MAN SENTENCED FOR FILING $1.5 MILLION IN FALSE CLAIMS FOR TAX REFUNDS

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Utah Man Sentenced to Prison for Filing $1.5 Million in False Claims for Tax Refunds and Presenting Fictitious Financial Instruments to the U.S. Government

A Sandy, Utah, resident was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, Utah, to serve two years in prison for tax evasion, filing false claims for federal income tax refunds, and filing fictitious financial obligations with the U.S. government, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

Paul Ben Zaccardi was also ordered to pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and to serve a four-year term of supervised release upon his release from prison.

“Pursuing and prosecuting individuals who refuse to comply with our nation’s tax laws and take affirmative steps to evade their obligations remains a top priority of the Tax Division,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo.  “Today’s sentence reflects what awaits those who engage in such criminal conduct.”

“Today’s sentencing of Paul Zaccardi again emphasizes the Internal Revenue Service and DOJ Tax Division’s aggressive pursuit of those who use fraudulent methods in an attempt to corrupt our nation’s tax system,” said Special Agent in Charge John Collins of the IRS Criminal Investigation’s Las Vegas Field Office.  “Honest taxpayers have been reassured today that no one is above the law–especially when the integrity of the tax administration is at stake.”

On Oct. 29, 2014, Zaccardi pleaded guilty to the offenses charged in the superseding indictment, including one count of tax evasion, five counts of filing false claims for income tax refunds and three counts of filing fictitious obligations.  According to the superseding indictment and court documents, in April 2004, Zaccardi embarked on a scheme to evade the payment of his federal income taxes.  As part of that scheme and to avoid federal tax levies, Zaccardi transferred title to his residence to a nominee entity that he formed called Saved by Grace Christian Fellowship and caused his business receipts to be deposited into his wife’s bank account.

Zaccardi also presented five separate false tax returns to the IRS falsely claiming tax refunds totaling more than $1.5 million.  In addition, from June 2008 to October 2011, Zaccardi presented three separate fictitious financial instruments to the IRS, U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. District Court of the District of Utah for a combined total of $605 million, to purportedly pay his federal income tax liabilities.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo commended the special agents of IRS Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Trial Attorneys Stuart Wexler and Ryan Raybould of the Tax Division, who prosecuted the case.  She also thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Utah for their substantial assistance.

MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO CONSPIRACY IN FALSE CLAIMS FOR TAX REFUNDS CASE

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Monday, March 30, 2015

North Carolina Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy for Filing False Claims for Tax Refunds

A Raleigh, North Carolina, man pleaded guilty today in the U.S. District Court in Raleigh to conspiring to file false claims for tax refunds, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Thomas G. Walker of the Eastern District of North Carolina.

According to court documents and statements in court, from 2010 through at least February 2014, Rodney Wright and others conspired to prepare and file false income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  Wright obtained the personal identification information of taxpayers and used this information to file false federal income tax returns, which included fictitious information in order to generate false and fraudulent claims for tax refunds.  Wright and others directed the IRS to deposit tax refunds into bank accounts of the taxpayers listed on the tax returns or into accounts controlled by Wright and others involved in the conspiracy.

Wright faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the conspiracy charge.  He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 29.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo and U.S. Attorney Walker commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Menzer of the Eastern District of North Carolina and Trial Attorneys Lauren Castaldi and Rebecca Perlmutter of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case.

THREE FLORIDA RESIDENTS SENTENCED IN FRAUDULENT TAX REFUND SCHEME

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

Friday, February 27, 2015

Two Miami Tax Preparers and Client Sentenced in Fraudulent Refund Scheme
Three Miami residents were sentenced for their roles in a tax refund scheme, announced U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Special Agent in Charge Kelly R. Jackson of Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation’s (IRS-CI) Miami Office.

According to the indictment and facts established at his sentencing hearing, Sean Anthony Lopez, 35, of Miami, submitted false personal federal income tax returns claiming $625,320 in fraudulent refunds.  Lopez received this refund in connection with his role as a client of an illicit tax preparation business located at 18710 SW 107th Street in Miami.  Lopez was sentenced today to serve 30 months in prison.  The court also ordered Lopez to pay restitution to the U.S. Treasury in the amount of $695,635.

Lopez’s co-defendants, Claudia Zuloaga, 43, and Sharon Elizabeth Angulo, 49, both of Miami, operated this South Miami-Dade County tax preparation business under the names Sterling Executive Associates Inc. and Sterling Executive (Sterling), and assisted Lopez in the preparation of his fraudulent tax returns, as well as numerous other similar false tax returns.

Angulo and Zuloaga were each previously sentenced to serve 60 months in prison.  The court also ordered Angulo and Zuloaga to each pay restitution to the U.S. Treasury in the amount of $1,539,873.

According to the indictment and facts established at sentencing, beginning in approximately September 2008 and continuing through September 2012, Zuloaga and Angulo recruited numerous clients, including Lopez, by falsely representing that they could eliminate a substantial portion of their debts by obtaining sizable tax refunds for them.  This would be accomplished through false and fraudulent tax returns prepared by Zuloaga and Angulo in exchange for a fee, usually amounting to 30 percent of the fraudulently obtained tax refund.  Zuloaga and Angulo were responsible for causing the submission of multiple fraudulent tax returns claiming refunds totaling in excess of $5.4 million.  As further established at their sentencing hearings, the IRS was fraudulently induced to issue refund checks in the aggregate amount of $2,305,081, a portion of which was disbursed to Lopez with respect to his fraudulent tax returns.

As further alleged in the indictment and established at their sentencing hearings, the tax returns prepared at Sterling by Zuloaga and Angulo falsely set forth that financial institutions at which the clients maintained accounts withheld sizable amounts of tax from falsely declared interest income, which was falsely claimed as having been earned by the clients.  Through this fraudulent mechanism, each return gave the appearance of entitling the client to a significant tax refund due to over-withholding of tax payments in connection with their claimed interest earnings.  In addition, in order to provide false substantiation for these fraudulent tax refund claims, the defendants caused fictitious IRS Forms 1099-OID to be created, which set forth the false interest and tax withholding amounts fraudulently reported upon their clients’ tax returns.

It was also established at sentencing hearings that Zuloaga and Angulo promoted the fictitious “redemption theory” to their clients as the purported justification for their fraudulent tax refund claims.  Through this promotion, clients were falsely informed that the submission of tax returns in this manner allowed their clients to legitimately access large amounts of money allegedly contained in certain non-existent “straw man” accounts which the defendants claimed were being maintained by the U.S. Treasury for each individual who possessed a social security number.

U.S. Attorney Ferrer and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo commended special agents of IRS – Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter B. Outerbridge of the Southern District of Florida and Trial Attorney Alexander Effendi of the Tax Division, who prosecuted the case.