Month: June 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Defendant fraudulently returned inferior merchandise in the place of legitimate, high-end goods which she sold on the internet

Source: United States Department of Justice News

          SANTA ANA, California – Two Orange County tax preparers were arraigned today on federal charges alleging they participated in a scheme orchestrated by a corrupt social worker who stole his clients’ identities to fraudulently obtain tax refunds, welfare benefits and credit cards.

          Anton Nguyen, 53, of Fountain Valley, and Rosemary Pham, 64, of Midway City, were summonsed to appear in United States District Court in Santa Ana, where this morning they pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges against them. A July 26 trial date has been scheduled for both defendants, who remain out of custody.

          Nguyen and Pham were charged in separate indictments filed on May 11 with conspiracy to defraud the United States. Nguyen also is charged with three counts of making false claims against the United States for the payment of federal income tax refunds, and Pham additionally is charged with 10 counts of aiding and advising the filing of false tax returns.

          Nguyen and Pham allegedly conspired with John Tran, who is believed to be either 56 or 60, of Fountain Valley, an Orange County Social Services Agency case worker from July 1994 to October 2018, who stole the Social Security numbers and other personal identifying information (PII) from his clients – many of them recent immigrants.

          From August 2010 to June 2019, Tran and his co-conspirators used the stolen information to fraudulently obtain money from the federal government, the State of California, the County of Orange and financial institutions.

          Nguyen, who owned and operated the Westminster-based Century Travel & Tax, and Pham, the owner and operator of Victory Tax Service in Westminster, allegedly used the stolen identities that Tran provided to create fraudulent Forms 1099-MISC purporting to show payments made to the identity theft victims by companies, including those controlled by Tran and other co-conspirators.

          The defendants allegedly prepared and filed federal income tax returns using the Tran-provided stolen identities. Nguyen and Pham used the purported payments on the fraudulent Forms 1099 as income to the identify theft victims, making them appear to qualify for tax credits, including the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit.

          In turn, the reported payments to the identity theft victims were used by Nguyen’s and Pham’s clients to offset business revenues and reduce the taxes they owed by making it appear that the identity theft victims worked for them, according to the indictments. In exchange for the fabrication of the Forms 1099, Nguyen’s and Pham’s clients allegedly paid them a fee.

          Tran and his co-conspirators filed 433 tax returns using PII belonging to other individuals, generating at least $973,153 in fraudulently obtained tax refund payments from the United States. Pham and Nguyen allegedly caused at least $1,378,092 and $4,054,802, respectively, in unpaid taxes to be incurred.

          Pham also allegedly reported fraudulent Fuel Tax Credits for other taxpayers.

          Indictments contain allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

          If convicted of all charges, Nguyen would face a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and Pham would face a statutory maximum sentence of eight years in federal prison.

          Prior to these indictments, federal prosecutors secured seven guilty pleas to criminal charges connected to this scheme.

          Tran pleaded guilty in November 2019 to conspiracy to defraud the United States with respect to claims, mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. Tran is scheduled to be sentenced on July 25, at which time he will face a statutory maximum sentence of 72 years in federal prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in federal prison.

          Chau Nguyen, 68, of Garden Grove; Sophie Thuy Nguyen, 47, of Westminster; Kevin Le, 56, of Anaheim Hills; Van Quach, 42, of Monterey Park; and Peter Duc Nguyen, 62, of Garden Grove, each have pleaded guilty to evasion of assessment of taxes and are scheduled to be sentenced later this year, at which time they will each face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.

          Thomas Nguyen, 61, of Santa Ana, pleaded guilty in June 2021 to one count of tax evasion. He was fined $30,000 and ordered to pay $133,796 in restitution.

          IRS Criminal Investigation, with assistance from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, investigated this matter.

          Assistant United States Attorneys Bradley E. Marrett and Daniel H. Ahn of the Santa Ana Branch Office are prosecuting these cases.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

BOSTON – A Pittsfield woman pleaded guilty today in federal court in Springfield to stealing fentanyl being administered to a patient in the critical care unit.

Jessica Lotto, 36, pleaded guilty to one count of acquiring a controlled substance by fraud, deceit or subterfuge. U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled sentencing for Jan. 25, 2023. Lotto was charged in November 2021.

In February 2019, while working as a nurse at Berkshire Medical Center, Lotto entered a patient’s room in the critical care unit where she used a syringe to steal fentanyl being administered to the patient through an IV line. Lotto later admitted to taking the drug from the patient.

The charge of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, deceit or subterfuge provides for a sentence of up to four years in prison, one year of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.  Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins; Brian McClune, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations, New York Field Office; and Margret R. Cooke, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Deepika Bains Shukla, Chief of Rollins’ Springfield Branch Office, is prosecuting the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Alan Hansen, 51, of Vacaville, was sentenced today to eight years in prison and ordered to pay $619,415,950 million in restitution for participating in a billion-dollar Ponzi scheme involving DC Solar, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

On July 23, 2020, Hansen pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and aiding and abetting money laundering.

According to court documents, between 2011 and 2018, DC Solar manufactured mobile solar generator units (MSG), solar generators that were mounted on trailers. The company touted the versatility and environmental sustainability of the mobile solar generators and claimed that they were used to provide emergency power to cellphone towers and lighting at sporting and other events. Jeff Carpoff, 51, Paulette Carpoff, 51, both of Martinez, and their co-conspirators solicited investors by claiming that there were favorable federal tax benefits associated with investments in alternative energy. They sold solar generators that did not exist to investors, making it appear that solar generators existed in locations that they did not, creating false financial statements, and obtaining false lease contracts, among other efforts to conceal the fraud. In reality, at least half of the approximately 17,000 solar generators claimed to have been manufactured by DC Solar did not exist and DC Solar paid early investors with funds contributed by later investors.

According to court documents, Hansen was an employee of a telecom company with which DC Solar had done some limited business. In that role, Hansen accepted $1 million from co-conspirators at DC Solar to fraudulently sign a false contract reflecting a much greater amount of supposed business leasing MSGs.  Hansen’s co‑conspirators used that false contract to induce substantial investments by victims in DC Solar. After signing the contract, Hansen took a job at DC Solar at a significant pay increase and left his former employment.  Later, as a DC Solar executive, Hansen and a co-conspirator agreed to share $20,000 cash from Jeff Carpoff to sign a false agreement related to the earlier contract by forging the signature of a former telecom company employee. Hansen’s co-conspirators used the false contract and forged agreement to induce still further payments by victims for MSGs. Hansen was paid for signing the first false contract through a series of interstate wire transfers into an account he set up in the name of a consulting company. Hansen knew the money he received came from payments by DC Solar investors, and that DC Solar was deceiving them to induce those payments.

On Nov. 9, 2021, Jeff Carpoff was sentenced to 30 years in prison and ordered to pay $790.6 million in restitution for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. His wife Paulette Carpoff has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and money laundering, and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 28, 2022.

On Nov. 16, 2021, Joseph W. Bayliss, 46, of Martinez, was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay $481.3 million in restitution for securities fraud and conspiracy in connection with the DC Solar scheme. On April 12, 2022, DC Solar CFO Robert A. Karmann, 55, of Clayton, was sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to pay $624 million.

Other defendants have pleaded guilty to criminal offenses related to the fraud scheme and are scheduled for sentencing: Ronald J. Roach, 55, of Walnut Creek, is scheduled to be sentenced on June 28, 2022; and Ryan Guidry, 45, of Pleasant Hill, is scheduled to be sentenced on June 7, 2022.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, IRS Criminal Investigation, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher S. Hales and Kevin C. Khasigian are prosecuting the case.

Paulette Carpoff and Guidry face a maximum statutory penalty of 15 years in prison. Roach faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years prison. The actual sentences, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A St. Joseph, Mo., police officer and his wife were indicted by a federal grand jury today for a $99,000 wire fraud scheme in which they used debit cards from a local lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, where they served as officers, for spending on personal items.

Michael A. Hardin,  46, and his wife, Sarah J. Hardin, 42, were charged in a seven-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo.

Michael Hardin, an officer with the St. Joseph Police Department, was the president of the Fraternal Order of Police Northwest Missouri Lodge #3 for approximately 10 years. Sarah Hardin, formerly a deputy with the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Department, was the treasurer of the lodge for approximately 10 years. The lodge, headquartered in St. Joseph, is a fraternity of approximately 300 law enforcement officers from police departments in nine northwest Missouri counties.

Today’s indictment alleges the Hardins used debit cards linked to the bank accounts of the Fraternal Order of Police Northwest Missouri Lodge #3 to make $99,000 in purchases for their own personal gain over a four-year period from December 2015 to December 2019.

According to the indictment, Sarah Hardin used two debit cards to make purchases at Walmart, Menards, Party City, HyVee, and other businesses for personal items and expenses. Michael Hardin allegedly used one debit card to make purchases from various merchants, including Hampton Inn, for personal items and expenses.

The Hardins did not provide information about the fraudulent spending to the members of the lodge, the indictment says, nor did they seek approval to use lodge funds for personal items.

Today’s indictment charges Sarah Hardin with four counts of wire fraud and Michael Hardin with three counts of wire fraud.

The charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Courtney R. Pratten. It was investigated by the FBI.