Tax Fraud suspects submitted thousands of tax returns through identity theft from employers
With few cases piling up at the Federal level, several investigations once handled by local authorities have now become the task of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Federal Marshal Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). But those are only some of the law enforcement agencies that are utilizing the facilities of the Bureau of Prisons, as well as the Internal Revenue Service, and the United States Treasury Service.
The Treasury Service has teamed up with the United States Attorney’s Office Tax Division by filing an indictment against three individuals in the San Jose Northern District Federal Court to regain funds lost through the filing of false tax refund forms over a three year period. The loss of money by the IRS was estimated into the millions.
Cases filed with the United States Attorney’s Office Tax Division, “prosecute criminal violations of the Internal Revenue Code and works on complex tax issues in civil defensive and affirmative cases.” According to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, “only two U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the country have a separate division dedicated to litigating both criminal and civil tax cases.”
According to court documents, three defendants – Trong Minh Nguyen a/k/a “John Nguyen”, Diep Thi Vo a/k/a “Nancy Vo”, and Nam Thi Nguyen – were indicted on charges 18 U.S.C. § 286, conspiracy to submit false claims, 18 U.S.C. § 287, submitting false claims, and 18 U.S.C. § 2, aiding and abetting, in January this year.
On Saturday, January 10, 2015 the District Attorney’s Office submitted evidence that linked the trio to information leading to the use of the victims’ Social Security numbers by using the victims’ W-4 form from their employer. The amendment to the complaint completed a third set of charges added under 42 U.S.C. § 408 (a)(7)(B).
The trio had knowingly sought to benefit from the submission of the victims’ IRS tax form, after Trong Nguyen, Diep Vo and Nam Nguyen had each submitted multiple claims. According to court documents, from May 30 of 2012 through March 20 of 2013 John Nguyen had filed for multiple tax refunds. Each refund submitted ranged from $1,987.00 to $2,225.00.
To avoid being caught filing an increasing number of tax returns, John Nguyen and Diep Vo rented numerous mail boxes while John and Nam Nguyen filed 1,743 fraudulent tax returns, claiming a total of $3,556,720.00.
