Tuesday, February 12th, 2019 @ 10:43PM

CFEG reports that on August 9, 2018, in a federal district court in the Northern District of Georgia, a former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employee pled guilty to one count of aggravated identity theft for her role in a stolen-identity refund fraud scheme. She was indicted in April 2017 for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft related to the scheme. https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/oi_highlights.shtml

According to court documents, she had been employed by the IRS since November 2010 in its Chamblee, Georgia, office. Through her employment, she had access to the means of identification of others, which could include any information used to identify a specific individual, such as the taxpayer’s name, Social Security Number (SSN), date of birth, and address. https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/oi_highlights.shtml

The indictment alleged that from at least September 2012 through at least April 2013, the IRS employee knowingly devised a scheme to defraud the IRS and to obtain money by means of false representations, in the course of which she used the means of identification of others without lawful authority. Specifically, through her IRS employment, she accessed taxpayer information, including the names and SSNs of five individuals, and used this information for her own benefit. She and others prepared and electronically filed fraudulent income tax returns in the names of those five individuals and directed the anticipated tax refunds to bank accounts held in the names of others. All of the fraudulent returns were electronically filed from the IRS employee’s residence in Atlanta, Georgia.  https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/oi_highlights.shtml

This IRS employee will face a mandatory two-year sentence of imprisonment for aggravated identity theft. Additionally, she may be subject to a fine of up to $250,000, full restitution to the IRS, and one year of supervised release following her imprisonment. A sentencing date has not been scheduled by the Court.  https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/oi_highlights.shtml

Posted by cfegov
Categories: 2018 CRIMINAL CONVICTIONS OF IRS EMPLOYEES, Criminal Convictions of IRS Employees for 2018