Friday, May 10th, 2019 @ 2:33AM

CFEG reports that on January 31, 2019, in a federal district court in the Central District of California, an IRS supervisor pled guilty to two counts of theft of Government property. The employee was initially indicted for the offenses and arrested by special agents of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) in March 2018. https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/oi_highlights.shtml

According to the court documents, at all times relevant to the charges, the employee was employed by the IRS as a supervisory individual tax advisory specialist in the Long Beach, California office. Beginning on or about February 12, 2016, this IRS employee knowingly and willfully embezzled, stole, and converted for her own use Federal funds as the purported surviving spouse of her ex-husband, who had died on about January 22, 2016, and from whom she had been divorced since about November 15, 2013. Specifically, she claimed that, as the alleged surviving spouse, she was entitled to receive death benefit payments issued by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), as well as retirement plan contributions issued by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB). In total, this IRS employee stole $34,204.50 from OPM and $36,861 from FRTIB. https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/oi_highlights.shtml

Additionally, on February 14, 2017, when interviewed by TIGTA special agents, she allegedly made a materially false statement by continuing to claim that she was married to her ex-spouse until his death, when, in fact, she knew that she had been divorced since about November 15, 2013. https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/oi_highlights.shtml

This IRS employee could face a maximum statutory sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment. Sentencing in this matter is scheduled for June 3, 2019. https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/oi_highlights.shtml

When IRS employees engage in embezzlement, theft, and conversion of Government property the IRS fails in its mission to apply the tax law with integrity and fairness to all.

Posted by cfegov
Categories: 2019 CRIMINAL CONVICTIONS OF IRS EMPLOYEES