Former IRS Employee involved on Tax Refund Scheme.

FORMER IRS EMPLOYEE AND WIFE SENTENCED IN D.C. PROPERTY TAX REFUND FRAUD SCHEME

Fraudulently Obtained Nearly $9 Million in D.C. Government Checks;
Used Funds to Purchase at Least Four Jaguars, a Townhouse and Vacations to the Bahamas.

Greenbelt, Maryland—U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. sentenced former IRS employee Robert O. Steven, age 55, of Edgewater, Maryland, today to 46 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, and his wife Patricia A. Steven, age 73, of Harwood, Maryland, to 70 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, for receipt of stolen property and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with a property tax refund scheme in which over $48 million were stolen from the District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeffrey A. Taylor.

Judge Williams also ordered that Robert Steven and Patricia Steven each pay $8,833,310.32, and, in order to satisfy such money judgment, to forfeit three Jaguar cars, two residences, jewelry and monies held in four bank accounts.

U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein stated, “This case is particularly egregious because Robert Steven was an IRS employee when he joined in this conspiracy to steal millions of dollars from D.C. taxpayers and spend the money on luxury items, and his wife Patricia Steven spent over 16 years laundering almost $9 million into a bank account she controlled with her husband. We seek the forfeiture of all criminal proceeds and property purchased with stolen money because victims deserve restitution and criminals must not be permitted to profit from their crimes.”

“Money laundering is not a victimless crime. The underground, untaxed economy harms the entire nation’s economic strength. IRS-Criminal Investigation is united with the rest of the law enforcement community in our resolve to financially disrupt criminal organizations that commit crimes against our society and economy,” said C. Andre' Martin, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge.

According to court documents, Robert Steven was employed with the IRS since 1975. At the time of his arrest, Steven’s position was Division Director, Modernization Information Technology Systems, and his office was located at the IRS National Office in New Carrollton, Maryland.

According to the plea agreements, Patricia Steven first met Harriette Walters, a former manager within the District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue, in the mid-1970s. By the late 1980's, Harriette Walters proposed that Patricia Steven deposit a check drawn on a District of Columbia government bank account and made payable to Patricia Steven. Walters explained that Steven would be allowed to keep a portion of the proceeds from the check, but would have to return a substantial portion to Walters. Despite knowing that Walters obtained the check fraudulently, Patricia Steven agreed and deposited the first check.

Robert and Patricia Steven opened a business that eventually developed into a clothing design business called “Bellarmine Design.” Bellarmine Design never grossed more than $15,000 in a single year. From 1990 to 2007, Patricia Steven and Harriette Walters made 67 deposits of fraudulently obtained District of Columbia government checks or cash proceeds from the scheme into a Bellarmine Design checking account maintained by Steven and Patricia Steven. The individual checks ranged in amounts from a handful of initial deposits over $4,000 each, to subsequent deposits of up to $490,000. Patricia Steven also transferred at least $344,700 to Harriette Walters.

Patricia and Robert Steven transferred at least $1,709,500 of these funds into another bank account used primarily by Robert Steven. Using these funds, Robert and Patricia Steven purchased at least four Jaguar cars, a townhouse located in Edgewater, Maryland and multiple vacations to the Bahamas.

Harriette M. Walters, age 52, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy; 10 years for District of Columbia tax evasion; five years for federal tax evasion; and an order to pay restitution in the amount of $48,115,419.09. U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia Emmet G. Sullivan has scheduled her sentencing for March 25, 2009 at 11:00 a.m. Alethia O. Grooms, age 52, of Clinton, Maryland and Samuel Earl Pope, age 61, of Washington, D.C. also pleaded guilty to their participation in the scheme. Judge Sullivan scheduled their sentencing for February 24 and 26, 2009.

Jayrece Turnbull, age 34, of Bowie, Maryland, who is Harriette Walters’ niece, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Baltimore to her participation in this tax refund scheme in which she deposited over $24 million in fraudulently obtained government checks into accounts she controlled. She faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for receipt of stolen property; 20 years in prison and a fine of $500,000 or twice the value of the transactions involved, whichever is greater, for conspiracy to commit money laundering; 30 years for mail fraud; and five years and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gain or loss, whichever is greater, for tax evasion. Judge Williams has scheduled her sentencing for February 4, 2009 at 9:30 a.m.

Judge Williams sentenced Ricardo R. Walters, age 33, of Ft. Washington, Maryland, on July 23, 2008 to 78 months in prison for receipt of stolen property and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Judge Williams sentenced Richard Walters, age 49, of Bowie, Maryland, who is Harriette Walters’ brother, on November 4, 2008 to 51 months in prison for receipt of stolen property and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with this scheme.

Marilyn Yoon, age 40, of Derwood, Maryland; Walter Jones, age 33, of Essex, Maryland; and Connie Alexander, age 53, of Bowie, Maryland have also pleaded guilty to their participation in the scheme. Yoon, the next defendant to be sentenced, faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for possession of property obtained by fraud at her sentencing scheduled for December 11, 2008 at 1:30 p.m. Walter Jones faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $500,000 or twice the value of the transactions involved, whichever is greater, for conspiracy to commit money laundering at his sentencing on January 5, 2009. Alexander faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for receipt of stolen property and 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering at her sentencing scheduled by Judge Williams for February 12, 2009.

United States Attorneys Rod J. Rosenstein and Jeffrey A. Taylor thanked the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation; the Inspector General’s Office for the District of Columbia; the District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue, Criminal Investigation Division; the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration; and the District of Columbia Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Office of Integrity and Oversight for their investigative work. Mr. Rosenstein commended Assistant United States Attorneys Jonathan Su and Deborah Johnston from the District of Maryland and Assistant United States Attorneys Timothy Lynch and David Johnson from the District of Columbia, who are prosecuting the case.

Tax Evasion with no paper trail.

The IRS has estimated that $50.0 billion in U.S. tax revenue is lost to evasion annually. Based on data showing the value of high-net-worth individuals and the proportion of their portfolios held offshore, $255.0 billion in worldwide tax revenue is lost annually from U.S. Citizens, and more than $400.0 billion from companies Blaming Undocumented Immigrants guilty of the "outright of Tax Evasion. We need a new IRS commissioner that respects the rule of law and understands that tax reform is needed to fix the problems in the tax code.
The misguided initiative, which would require U.S. financial institutions to automatically report the interest paid to foreign investors, is contrary to U.S economic interests. Faced with a loss of privacy, foreigners will take their money out of American banks, meaning less loan money available for families and businesses.

Fiscal deficits are ballooning now that America and Europe are paying for auto bailouts and stimulus packages, so you'd think their governments would be keener than usual to crack down on tax cheats for the extra billions in revenue it could bring in. They are, but with glacial zeal.

Liechtenstein signed an agreement with U.S. authorities on Monday in which it would, starting Jan. 1, 2010, provide information on U.S. banking clients who are being investigated for dodging tax. The tiny Alpine principality is renowned for allowing the world's wealthy to hide their money and (for some) to dodge the tax man.

Yet while this all sounds like good news, it is still miles away from the easy information sharing that's needed to help stop tax evaders. The so-called Tax Information Exchange Agreement that Liechtenstein has signed is notoriously difficult to use: a similar agreement between the island of Jersey and the United States was signed in 2002, yet has been used only four times.

The problem is that American authorities need to be armed with substantial evidence on a banking client before Liechtenstein will hand over any information, and that is nearly impossible considering that most tax evaders work hard to ensure they leave no paper trail. A spokesman for the principality told Forbes.com that "fishing expeditions," in which U.S. authorities would seek significant amounts of information in order to identify tax evaders, would not be possible.

Richard Murphy Founder of tax consultancy Tax Research, said Monday's agreement would at least help act as a deterrent to wealthy people who were looking for a place to hide their money from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service or other tax agencies: they may instead opt for Dubai, Singapore or Switzerland. The move also puts pressure on Switzerland to sign a similar agreement. "It's a symbolic move and it's a disincentive, but it's not going to be used that often," he said.

More significant would be the passing of a law that calls for full automatic information exchange from offshore tax havens. The European Union published its revised savings tax directive on Nov. 13, which proposes just that, and while it could still be years before a law is finally passed, that proposal has the support of Europe's Council of Finance Ministers.

Undocumented Immigrants Do not paid taxes. A Myth or a lie?



politicians claim the government could be losing as much as $100 billion a year through U.S. Citizens using off-shore tax havens.

Undocumented Workers do no paid taxes.!!!!!! That Sounds familiar to you.
Tax evasion is in progress BUT not from Undocumented workers.



MAN CONVICTED FOR FAILING TO REPORT TO THE IRS OVER $5 MILLION IN INCOME FROM THE SALE OF COMPUTER PARTS AND SOFTWARE


SAN FRANCISCO—United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello and Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Scott O’Briant announced that Mohammad Yousuf Chaudhry was convicted by a federal jury on Friday of filing false tax returns, conspiracy, and structuring currency transactions to evade a reporting requirement. The jury, after deliberating over two days, found Mr. Chaudhry guilty of all 16 charges against him. The guilty verdict followed a one-week trial before U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Breyer.

Evidence at trial showed that Mr. Chaudhry, of Los Altos, California, was involved in a conspiracy to structure transactions to avoid financial reporting requirements. Specifically, Mr. Chaudhry conspired with others to cash checks from his computer software customers in such a way that the $10,000 threshold that triggers the filing of a Currency Transaction Report or CTR was not triggered. He did not report the checks he had converted into cash as income for his two businesses – RT Computers (RT) and Alternative Energy Systems (AES) -- on the federal corporate income tax returns. In total, Mr. Chaudhry failed to report over $5 million in income on his corporate tax returns. One of his employees, Ali Khan of San Jose, California assisted Mr. Chaudhry with structuring transactions by cashing multiple checks in amounts less than $10,000 at local check cashers, instead of depositing those checks into business bank accounts. Some of those check cashers agreed they would not file Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs) with the IRS. Mr. Khan further helped to cover up Mr. Chaudhry’s scheme by filing false CTRs on behalf of RT and AES and by using a false signature when endorsing checks. Mr. Khan participated in cashing over 150 checks, and Mr. Chaudhry personally cashed many more. Mr. Khan pleaded guilty on May 27, 2008 to 26 USC § 7207 (filing false documents with the Internal Revenue Service).

Mr. Chaudhry was indicted by a federal grand jury on October 23, 2003. He was charged with five counts of subscribing to a false corporate income tax return filed with the Internal Revenue Service, in violation of Title 26, United States Code, Section 7206(1); one count of conspiring to structure transactions to evade reporting requirements in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371; and 11 counts of structuring transactions for the purpose of evading a reporting requirement, in violation of Title 31, United States Code, Section 5324(a)(3). One count of filing a false corporate return was dismissed at the close of the government’s case.

The sentencing of Mr. Chaudhry is scheduled for September 17, 2008, before Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco. The maximum statutory penalty for the conspiracy charge is five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. The maximum statutory penalty for each count in violation of Title 26 Section 7206(1) is up to three years in prison and a fine of $100,000, plus restitution. The maximum statutory penalty for each count of structuring is five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

AUSAs Kirstin Ault and Thomas Moore are the Assistant U.S. Attorneys who are prosecuting the case, with the assistance of paralegals Lou Statti and Kathy Tat. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation

WOMAN ARRESTED ON FEDERAL FRAUD CHARGES FOR DEFRAUDING MEDICARE OUT OF $12 MILLION




This morning, special agents with the FBI and IRS-Criminal Investigation arrested the operator of Wescove Home Health Services at her home in Covina on health care fraud and money laundering charges stemming from her participation in a scheme that defrauded Medicare out of more than $12 million.
Felcoranenda “Nenda” Estudillo, 50, a registered nurse, ran Wescove, which was based in the city of West Covina. Estudillo was Wescove’s administrator, responsible for the home health agency’s day-to-day operations and Medicare billing activity. In a 36-count indictment returned earlier this week and unsealed today, Estudillo is charged with conspiracy, health care fraud, money laundering, the structuring of cash transactions and falsifying records to maintain Wescove’s participation in the Medicare program.
According to the indictment, Estudillo paid marketers to recruit Medicare beneficiaries to receive benefits they were not eligible to receive. The marketers recruited and referred Medicare patients to Wescove, even though the beneficiaries were not confined to the home and did not need skilled nursing or therapy services. According to the indictment, Wescove billed Medicare for home health services provided to beneficiaries who were not confined to their homes, did not qualify for or need those types of services, or never received any services.
Estudillo allegedly paid marketers fees ranging from $300 to $4,800, based upon the amount that Wescove was able to fraudulently bill to Medicare. Estudillo would pay marketers higher fees for patient referrals that resulted in increased Medicare billings. She also allegedly paid referral fees that she booked as “skilled nursing” payments to conceal the payment of kickbacks.
According to the indictment, some Medicare beneficiaries were paid cash to sign up for home health services after being recruited by the marketers to receive services they did not need or did not receive. Estudillo allegedly paid more than $3.1 million to at least six marketers for the referral of Medicare beneficiaries.
The indictment charges Estudillo with 11 money laundering counts and 12 cash-structuring violations. These result from allegations that Estudillo laundered the proceeds of her Medicare billing scheme to promote the scheme, conceal the source of payments made to marketers and to herself, and avoid the payment of taxes . According to the indictment, Estudillo paid cash to some of the marketers who referred patients. To facilitate this, Estudillo devised a check-cashing scheme involving the marketers and Wescover employees in which they negotiated Wescove checks, obtained cash, and Estudillo used some of the cash to pay the marketers and patients. Estudillo allegedly wrote checks to marketers and employees in amounts less than $10,000 in an effort to avoid the currency transaction reporting requirements that banks are required to follow.
Estudillo is expected to make her initial court appearance this afternoon in United States District Court in Los Angeles.
If convicted of all counts in the indictment, Estudillo faces a statutory maximum penalty of 430 years in federal prison.
The investigation of Estudillo was conducted by IRS-Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Congress penalizes U.S. troops, legal U.S. residents in attempt to punish Undocumented immigrants.




When Congress passed an economic-stimulus package giving hefty rebates to most taxpayers, it tried to make sure that Undocumented immigrants didn't get any of the cash.
But in doing so lawmakers inadvertently penalized at least a million legal U.S. residents - and tens of thousands of U.S. troops stationed overseas - simply because their spouses lack a Social Security number.

"Imagine an American soldier in Iraq whose foreign-born wife is waiting for an immigration petition to be approved and doesn't have a Social Security card. Now the couple can't even get a rebate," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose. "That is really stupid."

Others in the predicament include legal residents whose spouses are still overseas because of long immigration queues and hundreds of thousands of H-1B work visa holders in Silicon Valley and elsewhere.

The scope of the problem is only now becoming clear as the government begins sending out rebate checks. The first checks were electronically deposited in bank accounts last week.

Because illegal immigrants don't have Social Security numbers and instead routinely use "tax identification numbers," Congress banned rebates for taxpayers who use the IRS-issued numbers.

If a married couple files jointly and one spouse doesn't have a Social Security number, the couple won't get the $1,200 checks that other couples will receive. They're also ineligible for the $300 rebate per child.

Many Armed Forces

members stationed overseas have foreign spouses who can't get Social Security numbers.

William Luong, stationed at a U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, Japan, said some of his fellow seamen resent that they've landed in the same category as illegal immigrants.

"They understand the reason they're getting the shaft," said Luong, 21, who is from the Los Angeles area. "But a lot are frustrated or angry about it."

More than 288,000 troops are stationed overseas, according to the Pentagon - not counting those in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many live in places - Korea, Japan and Germany - where extended stays often result in marriages to locals.

The unintended situation developed after the House in late January passed the economic-stimulus legislation at the urging of President Bush. But anti-illegal immigration groups then lobbied the Senate to add the Social Security requirement, fearing that illegal immigrants would get their hands on the checks.

The Federation for American Immigrant Reform - whose members went on radio talk shows to bash the House version of the stimulus bill - has no apologies.

"No law was ever written that doesn't find someone falling through the cracks," said Ira Mehlman, a FAIR spokesman, who said he hoped government officials will come up with some way to help Armed Forces members.

But legal immigrants who are being denied rebates say they want some justice, too.

"If the government collects taxes from us, we should be able to get rebates given to other legal residents, it should be a level-playing field," said Parveen Kumar, an H-1B visa holder who lives in Sunnyvale.

Kumar moved to Silicon Valley from India with his wife three years ago. He now works as an engineer at Intelliswift Software in Fremont. But his wife, Anu, is on a H-4 "dependency visa" that doesn't allow her to work.

After he found out about the rebate law, he went to the Mountain View office of the Social Security Administration and asked if he could get a number for his wife. He was told no.

John Johnston, a spokesman for the Social Security Administration, confirmed on Wednesday that the agency's policy is not to issue Social Security cards simply for the purpose of issuing tax rebates.

According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, there are now between 600,000 and 800,000 H-1B visa holders in the United States. Exactly how many are married to spouses ineligible to work in this country is unclear.

Another group of immigrants - about a million nationwide - are non-citizen green-card holders who are already facing seven-year waits to get permission for their spouses to immigrate to their country.

"I've been in America for well over 20 years, and I consider myself an American," said Amir Nikpouri of Orland Park, a suburb of Chicago. "All I'm trying to do is obey the laws, but this one seems really unfair."

Nikpouri, 31, was married three years ago, but his wife won't be eligible to immigrate from Iran for a few more years.

"We are here legally and paying taxes and enjoying what a married family should be enjoying," said Aung Moe of San Jose, 33, a Burmese political refugee who works as an engineer at Applied Materials. His wife, Mon, is an electrical engineer who is forced to live separately from her husband in Singapore.

"Already we cannot be together, and now she cannot get a Social Security number," he said. "This needs to be fixed."

Learning illegal behavior from U.S. Citizens. A person indicted for tax evasion.





Former MED Employee Sentenced to Five Years

Memphis, TN - Cassandra J. Stanfield, a former employee at the Regional Medical Center Memphis, has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jon P. McCalla to serve 60 months in prison, followed by 6 years of supervised release announced David Kustoff, United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee. Stanfield was also ordered to pay restitution of $2.8 million.

Stanfield entered a guilty plea to embezzling monies from the medical center and income tax evasion on September 24, 2007. As part of her plea agreement Stanfield agreed to forfeit her interest in all property derived from her criminal conduct and to pay restitution to all identifiable victims who suffered losses as a result of her criminal conduct.

In pleading guilty to income tax evasion Stanfield acknowledged that for calendar year 2004 she did not file a tax return despite the fact that she received taxable income in the approximate amount of $968,523.20 on which she owed approximately $317,051.12 in taxes.

The indictment which was returned in December 2006 alleged that Stanfield embezzled funds while employed in the Med's Patient Financial Services Department as "lead cashier" during 2002 through 2005.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation-Memphis Division, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Carroll André represented the government

Anti Immigrants aren't you glad to know this information.





Individuals using Taxpayer identification numbers are not part of the stimulus package. So stop your paranoia that undocumented Immigrants are getting billions of dollars at taxpayer expenses.

Q. I file using an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN). Can I still get a stimulus payment?

A: No. The law does not allow stimulus payments to people who file a return using an ITIN. A taxpayer must have a valid Social Security Number to qualify for the stimulus payment. If married filing jointly, both taxpayers must have a valid Social Security Number. And children must have valid Social Security Numbers to be eligible as qualifying children

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=179181,00.html

I am wonder who's funding these people to do unconstructive waste of time and Racial profiling to Legal and undocumented Immigrants.
If they got paid for their time. I am wonder if they paid taxes. IRSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS MINUTEMAN GROUPS NEEDS FINANCIAL HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.