3 sent to prison in massive $100M ID theft-tax fraud case

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

3 sent to prison in massive $100M ID theft-tax fraud case

Curt Anderson, Ap Legal Affairs Writer

Updated 4:33 pm, Tuesday, April 5, 2016

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Three people convicted of operating an estimated $100 million tax refund fraud operation that stands as one of the largest ever uncovered nationally were sent to prison Tuesday by a South Florida federal judge just days before this year's tax filing deadline.

The ring was centered in an unassuming house in the suburb of Miramar, where Internal Revenue Service investigators say at least 10 laptop computers were used between July 2011 and May 2013 to steal tens of millions of dollars in fraudulent refunds using stolen identities, including those of dead people and prisoners.

"The Miramar residence was, for all intents and purposes, a fraud factory," Assistant U.S. Attorney Brooke Watson said in court papers. "This is one of the larger federal income fraud tax schemes that the IRS has encountered."

Florida is one of the nation's hotbeds of tax fraud using stolen identities. In 2014, the most recent year complete figures were available, the Justice Department estimated that nationwide about 2.1 million fraudulent returns of all types claiming refunds of $15.7 billion were filed.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/5-face-prison-in-massive-100M-ID-theft-tax-fraud-7228444.php

[Hotler]

1. .......

Fraud on Wall Street is next, right?????

[wordpix]

2. now onto the Wall St. fraudsters

like the guy who owns a huge historic mansion in my town that the owner completely renovated. I met him at a party during the time of renovation and asked him where he worked and he wouldn't answer.