Month: August 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A Florida woman was sentenced to one year and one day in prison today for helping to execute a nationwide tax fraud scheme and attempting to prevent the IRS from recovering a fraudulent refund she received after filing a false tax return.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Rebecca Cyphers, 65, of Winter Springs, Florida, participated in a nationwide tax fraud scheme from at least September 2014 to May 2016. As part of the scheme, promoters recruited clients by convincing them that their mortgages and other debts entitled them to tax refunds. Other members of the scheme prepared tax returns on behalf of clients for submission to the IRS, falsely reporting that banks and other financial institutions had withheld large amounts of income tax that entitled the clients to refunds. In reality, the financial institutions had not paid any income to, or withheld any taxes from, the clients. Cyphers admitted to her role in the scheme, which included inviting potential clients to at least one recruiting seminar. She also encouraged the prospective clients to participate in the scheme, even though Cyphers knew it was illegal.

Cyphers personally benefitted from the scheme by filing an amended 2013 income tax return that falsely claimed her mortgage holder had withheld more than $560,000 in taxes. As a result, the IRS issued Cyphers a refund of approximately $240,000 that she was not entitled to receive. Cyphers obstructed the IRS’s efforts to recover these ill-gotten profits by making large cash withdrawals from a bank account containing the refund amount, transferring much of the remaining amount into a trust, and sending frivolous correspondence to the IRS.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Carlos E. Mendoza ordered Cyphers to serve one year of supervised release and to pay approximately $ $232,185.20 in restitution to the United States.

In March, the main promoter of the fraud scheme, Iran Backstrom, was sentenced to more than 8 years in prison, and Backstrom’s second-in-command, Mehef Bey, was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Another individual, Aaron Aqueron, was sentenced to 51 months in prison for recruiting clients to the scheme and providing information to another co-conspirator for use in the preparation of false tax returns. A fourth individual, Yomarie Febres, was also sentenced to 51 months in prison for preparing false tax returns for scheme participants. Several other individuals in Florida and around the country have received prison sentences for their involvement in the scheme.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg for the Middle District of Florida made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Isaiah Boyd III of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Chauncey A. Bratt for the Middle District of Florida are prosecuting the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A Florida man pleaded guilty yesterday to filing a false tax return that claimed a fraudulent charitable contribution relating to the donation of a conservation easement over land. The plea was entered before U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce E. Reinhart.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Randall Lenz, of Boca Raton, Florida, was a licensed CPA and attorney with more than thirty years of experience handling tax matters. From approximately 2015 through 2019, Lenz marketed to his clients illegal tax shelters developed and promoted by other individuals. In return, Lenz received a commission of 12% of the money his clients paid for their tax shelters. In all, Lenz received more than $700,000 in such commissions.

The tax shelters enabled high-income taxpayers to claim inflated charitable contribution deductions in connection with the purported donation of a conservation easement over land. The tax shelters operators created an LLC and then acquired land, or an entity that owned land, through the LLC. The promoters then sold units in funds operated by the LLCs to high-income clients. In exchange for those purchases, those clients were supplied with documentation and tax forms purporting to justify tax deductions in amounts 4 to 4.5 times the amount of money the clients paid for their units.

Lenz admitted that he knew the tax shelters did not entitle him to a tax deduction, but he nonetheless purchased units for himself for tax years 2018 and 2019. As a result, he was able to claim false charitable deductions of approximately $100,000 on his tax returns for each of those years.

Lenz faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison for filing a false tax return. He also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation and U.S. Postal Inspection Service are investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Jessica A. Kraft and Nichols J. Schilling Jr. of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

INDIANAPOLIS – Bradford Jensen, 50, of Indianapolis, was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

According to court documents, Jensen was on parole in Marion County, Indiana, after serving 8 years in prison for possession of a firearm by a serious felon. On October 28, 2021, parole agents searched Jensen and his residence, and found a loaded 9mm handgun. Jensen admitted to possession of the firearm during an interview with law enforcement officers.

Jensen is prohibited from possessing firearms because he is a convicted felon. Over 30 years, Jenson has accumulated ten felony convictions, including domestic battery, stalking, conspiracy to commit burglary, and two prior convictions for possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon.

Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, and Daryl S. McCormick, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), Columbus Field Division made the announcement.

ATF investigated the case in conjunction with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge James R. Sweeney II. As part of the sentence, Judge Sweeney ordered that Jensen be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for two years following his release from federal prison.

U.S. Attorney Myers thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Abhishek S. Kambli who prosecuted this case.

This case was brought as part of the LEATH Initiative (Law Enforcement Action to Halt Domestic Violence), named in honor of Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) Officer Breann Leath, who was killed in the line of duty while responding to a domestic disturbance call.  A partnership among the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the IMPD, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana, the LEATH Initiative focuses federal, state, and local law enforcement resources on domestic violence offenders who illegally possess firearms.

Additionally, this case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement, and the local community to develop effective, locally based strategies to reduce violent crime.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Fargo – United States Attorney Jennifer Klemetsrud Puhl announced that Winter Skye Bigtrack, age 19 of St. Michael, ND, appeared before Chief Judge Peter D. Welte, U.S. District Court, Fargo, ND, and was sentenced to 57 months in prison after having plead guilty to three counts of Involuntary Manslaughter and one count of Assault Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury. Judge Welte also sentenced Bigtrack to 3 years of supervised release and $76,786.42 restitution.

On August 11, 2021, Winter Bigtrack operated a motor vehicle on Heart Road on the Spirit Lake Reservation that left the roadway and rolled, which involved another motor vehicle. As a result of the rollover, three of the five occupants of the vehicle, an adult male, a juvenile male, and a minor female, died. The fifth passenger, another minor female, suffered injuries that required her to be transported to Fargo for intensive care treatment. Bigtrack suffered a broken collar bone. The occupants of the second vehicle received minor injuries.

Further investigation revealed that Bigtrack was driving without a license, exceeding the posted speed limit, and passing in a no passing zone while under the influence of intoxicating liquor and a controlled substance.

A federal grand jury has indicted the driver of the second involved vehicle, Trina Lily Hunt, age 19 also of St. Michael, ND, on the same charges. The indictment alleges that Hunt was driving a motor vehicle without a license while under the influence of intoxicating liquor and a controlled substance at high speeds exceeding the posted speed limit, and otherwise driving recklessly.

Grand jury Indictments are allegations and are not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the North Dakota Highway Patrol, and the case is being prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office, with Assistant United States Attorney Lori H. Conroy assigned to the case.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

NEWARK, N.J. – An Essex County, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 135 months in prison for distributing multiple images and videos of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Mauricio Calderon, 51, of Belleville, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi to an information charging him with one count of distribution of child pornography. Judge Cecchi imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From March 2020 to April 10, 2020, Calderon used an encrypted, internet-based application to distribute multiple graphic videos depicting the sexual assault of minors. During the course of the investigation, Calderon publicly posted multiple videos depicting the sexual abuse of children, some of which featured infants and toddlers, in a chatroom, and also sent links that redirected to web pages containing child pornography. Law enforcement also discovered numerous videos and images of child sexual abuse on Calderon’s electronic devices when he was arrested at his home in September 2020.  

In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Cecchi sentenced Calderon to 10 years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents with the Department of Homeland Security – Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Richard W. Reinhold, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn Barnes of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.