Wednesday, February 20th, 2013 @ 9:13PM

The following examples of identity theft schemes are written from public record documents on file in the court records in the judicial district in which the cases were prosecuted.

Alabama Woman Sentenced for Identity Theft Conspiracy
On January 2, 2013, in Montgomery, Ala., Nakesha Donaldson was sentenced to 57 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $781,305 in restitution to the IRS. Donaldson pleaded guilty on September 20, 2012 to conspiracy to defraud the United States, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. According to court documents, Donaldson worked at a tax preparation office located in Montgomery, Alabama. From approximately July 2007 through October 2010, Donaldson and the other conspirators prepared tax returns containing false dependents, income and expenses and claims for false tax refunds. Additionally, Donaldson possessed and used stolen identities to electronically file false tax returns and claim false refunds.

Chicago Man Sentenced for Tax and Wire Fraud
On January 8, 2013, in Chicago, Ill., Yair Berkowitz, of Chicago, was sentenced to 62 months in prison, two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $4,069,091 in restitution to the IRS. According to court documents, from 2003 until August 2009, Berkowitz, along with others, participated in a scheme to defraud and obtain money and property from the IRS and various state departments of revenue. Berkowitz and others involved in the scheme, submitted fraudulent state and federal income tax returns using the identities of prisoners and deceased persons. Berkowitz also acknowledged collecting and distributing fraudulently obtained state and federal tax refunds and refunds proceeds from co-conspirators.

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Posted by Robert Strait
Categories: Law enforcement