Delaware woman convicted of tax fraud

Being convicted of criminal tax violations is no joke. These types of convictions can lead to serious jail time as well as heavy fines. Such was the case when a federal jury in Texas convicted a Delaware woman of cheating the government out of more than $3 million over a three-year period in an elaborate tax fraud scheme that involved submitting false documents for payments.

The verdict came down on Oct. 24 in Texas. The woman was found guilty of conspiring with others to illegally obtain tax refunds that she was not entitled to. The scheme went on from 2007 until last year. The woman and her accomplices used prison inmates’ Social Security numbers, along with intentionally incorrect spellings of the inmates’ names, to claim the refunds for themselves.

The woman was arrested in Virginia last year and has been in federal prison since that time. She is scheduled for sentencing in January. The woman could be looking at up to 20 years in federal prison, along with fines of up to $250,000, and may have to pay restitution to her victims as well. Federal prison terms are serious.

This case illustrates just how serious the consequences for criminal tax activity can be if individuals are found guilty in a court of law. Federal prison sentences are especially serious, because unlike the state prison system, there is no parole in the federal prison system, and judges often have to follow mandatory sentencing guidelines. When faced with federal tax charges, individuals may wish to consider speaking with an attorney who is well-versed in tax law.

Source: WDEL, “TX jury convicts DE woman of $3M worth of tax fraud,” Frank Gerace, Oct. 25, 2011