Archive

August 3, 2017

A grand jury in the Northern District of California returned an indictment, charging five individuals with conspiring to submit fraudulent claims for tax refunds. Two of the individuals were also indicted for bank fraud. According to the indictment and information provided to the court, Jorge Vissani, Jacqueline Ramos a/k/a Jackie Acosta, Ana Bajo a/k/a Ana Cobraubias, Norma Morfin and Antonio Ahumada filed fraudulent tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that included fake income, false dependents and bogus education expenses. As a result of filing these fraudulent returns, the defendants are alleged to have stolen more than $9 million in tax refunds. The indictment alleges that the defendants directed the IRS to send the refunds to addresses and bank accounts that they controlled. According to the indictment, they forged endorsements and cashed or deposited the refund checks at financial institutions and businesses in Northern California. DOJ

August 3, 2017

A Louisiana woman pleaded guilty to four counts of preparing fraudulent tax returns. According to documents filed with the court, Shawanda Nevers aka Shawanda Hawkins, Shawanda Bryant and Shawanda Johnson, 49, operated a series of businesses in the LaPlace area, including 3LJ’s Café Services & Sports Bar LLC and 3LJ’s Industrial Service Solutions LLC. Between 2011 and 2016, Nevers filed on behalf of her clients income tax returns that included fake business losses, deductions and tax credits and sought refunds to which her clients were not entitled. Despite a federal judge permanently enjoining her from preparing federal tax returns in 2014, Nevers continued to file fraudulent returns. As part of the plea agreement, Nevers admitted that she owes the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) $6,934,764 in restitution, as well as $128,900 to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Trust and $964 to the Social Security Administration. DOJ

August 2, 2017

Andre Bernard, of Mount Kisco, New York, pleaded guilty for his participation in a multi-state scheme to defraud biodiesel buyers and U.S. taxpayers by fraudulently selling biodiesel credits and fraudulently claiming tax credits. According to his plea, Bernard conspired with Thomas Davanzo, of Estero, Florida, Robert Fedyna, of Naples, Florida, and Scott Johnson of Pasco, Washington in a scheme to defraud biodiesel credit (known as "RIN" credits) buyers and U.S. taxpayers. The conspiracy involved having Gen-X Energy Group (Gen-X), headquartered in Pasco, Washington, and its subsidiary, Southern Resources and Commodities (SRC), located in Dublin, Georgia, generate fraudulent RINs and tax credits multiple times on the same material. Bernard and his co-conspirators operated several shell companies that claimed to purchase and sell the renewable fuel. The co-conspirators received at least $42 million from the sale of these fraudulent RINs to third parties. In addition, Gen-X received approximately $4,360,724.50 in false tax credits for this fuel. DOJ

July 26, 2017

An Alaskan couple was charged in federal court in Juneau, Alaska with four counts of willful failure to pay their individual income taxes. According to the Information, Archie W. Demmert III and Roseann L. Demmert earned income from commercial fishing. The Information alleges that Archie Demmert owned Vetta Bay LLC, which owned the Demmerts’ fishing vessel, the Emerald Beauty. The Information further charges that the Demmerts have a long history of not paying their taxes to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). It alleges that the Demmerts did not pay their taxes for 13 separate tax years, for which they owed over $400,000, excluding penalties and interest. DOJ

July 27, 2017

A District of Columbia woman was sentenced today to 63 months in prison for her involvement in a scheme to fraudulently obtain millions of dollars in income tax refunds, announced the Justice Department’s Tax Division. Tarkara Cooper, 34, was convicted by a jury on Feb. 17 for conspiring to commit theft of government funds and defraud the United States and theft of public money. Two of her co-defendants, Tony Bryant, 55, and his son, Brian Bryant, 29, both of Clinton, Md., were also convicted at trial and are awaiting sentencing. Cooper was part of a massive sophisticated stolen identity refund fraud scheme that involved a network of more than 130 people, many of whom were receiving public assistance. Conspirators fraudulently claimed refunds for tax years 2005 through 2012, often in the names of people whose identities had been stolen, including the elderly, people in assisted living facilities, drug addicts and incarcerated prisoners. Returns were also filed in the names of, and refunds were issued to, willing participants in the scheme. The returns filed listed more than 400 “taxpayer” addresses located in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. According to court documents, the overall case involved the filing of at least 12,000 fraudulent federal income tax returns that sought at least $42 million in refunds. DOJ

July 19, 2017

A citizen and resident of Switzerland pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States in connection with her work as the head of a team of bankers for Credit Suisse AG, announced the Justice Department’s Tax Division. According to the statement of facts and the plea agreement, Susanne D. Rüegg Meier, admitted that from 2002 through 2011, while working as the team head of the Zurich Team of Credit Suisse’s North American desk in Switzerland, she participated in a wide-ranging conspiracy to aid and assist U.S. taxpayers in evading their income taxes by concealing assets and income in secret Swiss bank accounts. Rüegg Meier was responsible for supervising the servicing of accounts involving over 1,000 to 1,500 client relationships. She was also personally responsible for handling the accounts of approximately 140 to 150 clients, about 95 percent of whom were U.S. persons residing primarily in New York, Chicago and Florida, which held assets under management totaling approximately $400 million. Rüegg Meier admitted that the tax loss associated with her criminal conduct was between $3.5 and $9.5 million. DOJ

July 12, 2017

New York announced the convictions of Kulbir Singh, 53, and gas stations Dashmesh Petroleum, Inc., Gobind Petroleum, Inc. and Karam Mart Inc. on felony charges stemming from the theft of over $1 million in sales tax collected for gasoline sales. Kulbir Singh operated three BP gas stations in Nassau County, located at 2 Hempstead Avenue, West Hempstead NY (Gobind Petroleum, Inc.), 385 Merrick Road, Valley Stream, NY (Dashmesh Petroleum, Inc.), and 653 Hempstead Avenue, Elmont NY (Karam Mart, Inc.). His son, Ladpreet Singh, also operated Karam Mart. According to the prosecution, the Singhs’ gas stations collected but failed to remit to New York State a total of over $1,000,000 in sales taxes from September 2011 through December 2014. Each of the defendant corporations, Dashmesh Petroleum, Inc., Gobind Petroleum Inc. and Karam Mart, Inc., pleaded guilty to one count of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a Class C felony, and were fined $50,000 each. Defendant Kulbir Singh’s son, Ladpreet Singh, who operated Karam Mart, Inc., pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was sentenced to probation. NY

July 6, 2017

A Houston, Texas business owner was sentenced to 36 months in prison for failing to pay over employment taxes, announced the Justice Department’s Tax Division. According to documents filed with the court, Richard Floyd Tatum Jr., 57, owned Associated Marine & Industrial Staffing Inc. (AMI), an industrial staffing company that provided temporary labor to businesses in Texas and other states. Tatum employed approximately 1,000 people to include internal employees, who worked for AMI, and external employees, who AMI assigned to work on-site at client locations. Tatum was responsible for collecting, accounting for and paying over to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) the payroll taxes withheld from AMI’s employees’ wages. Tatum exercised significant control over AMI’s finances, entered into contracts on behalf of AMI, signed checks, to include payroll, and decided which creditors to pay. Tatum also signed and filed AMI’s employment tax returns. DOJ

July 6, 2017

An insurance salesman and former resident of Parma, Ohio was sentenced to 37 months in prison following his conviction in December 2016 for failing to file income tax returns and failing to pay taxes, announced the Justice Department’s Tax Division. According to documents and information provided to the court, John Christopher Raschella, 57, of Estero, Florida, failed to pay more than $1 million in income taxes, interest and penalties that he owed to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for 1995, 1996, and 1998 through 2012. During those years, Raschella sold insurance, and earned additional income working for other insurance salesmen. Between 1989 and 2012, Raschella failed to timely file income tax returns with the IRS. For several years, Raschella filed delinquent returns, reporting that he owed taxes, but failed to make the required payments. For other years, the IRS assessed Raschella’s taxes and sent him letters notifying him of the amount he owed, but Raschella still did not pay. DOJ

June 27, 2017

A Brentwood, Tennessee doctor and his wife were sentenced to prison for conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), announced the Justice Department’s Tax Division. According to documents filed with the court, from 2002 through 2014, Jeff and Andra McCoy conspired to defraud the IRS by impeding the collection of their income taxes. The McCoys filed 2003 through 2007 income tax returns with the IRS on which they claimed fake income tax withholding amounts and sought approximately $2,620,208 in fraudulent refunds. They submitted false documents to the IRS and placed their assets in the names of nominees and in nominee bank accounts. For example, they established a bank account for a purported nonprofit business and directed Jeff McCoy’s employer to deposit his income into the nominee account. In addition to seeking fraudulent refunds, the McCoys also failed to pay more than $500,000 in taxes owed for tax years 2001 through 2008, despite earning more than $2 million during that time. DOJ