A massive $19 million stolen identity refund fraud conspiracy has been charged in Alaska, with 11 defendants facing federal charges in a superseding indictment.
A grand jury in Anchorage returned a 90-count indictment against the defendants, who allegedly used stolen Puerto Rican identities to file tax returns and obtain fraudulent income tax refunds.
The indictment alleges that the conspirators fabricated individual income tax returns using stolen personal identification information from residents of Puerto Rico. They obtained laptop computers containing over 2,600 stolen identities and $19 million in fraudulent refund claims.
The addresses used on some of the false tax returns were obtained by stealing mail from mailboxes in and around Anchorage. In other cases, the defendants contacted conspirators in New Jersey and Puerto Rico, requesting that fraudulently obtained tax refund checks be sent to Anchorage using false names.
The indictment also charges various defendants with submitting false claims for refund, possessing stolen mail, making false claims of U.S. citizenship, committing passport fraud, making false statements to banks and credit unions, passing forged U.S. Treasury checks, aggravated identity theft, and drug charges.
The case is being jointly prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas C. Bradley and James Barkeley of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska and Trial Attorney Stephanie Carowan Courter of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.
The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
An indictment is merely a formal accusation. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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