Javier Zarate-Flores, Tax Fraud Scheme, Wisconsin 2017

A Milwaukee man, Javier Zarate-Flores, has been sentenced to 28 months in prison for his role in a tax fraud scheme that netted him over $1 million in refunds from the IRS.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Zarate-Flores, 29, of Milwaukee, was sentenced on June 8, 2017, in federal court for his guilty plea to theft of government money, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 641.

Zarate-Flores was also ordered to pay $1,201,935.00 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service and agreed to be voluntarily deported from the United States and return to Mexico due to his lack of legal status in the United States.

As part of his scheme, Zarate-Flores obtained personal identifying documents from citizens of Mexico, fraudulently applied for Individual Tax Identification Numbers (ITINs) in their names, and then filed fraudulent tax returns using the ITINs he obtained.

In the fraudulent tax returns that he filed, Zarate-Flores claimed the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC), which reduces tax liability dollar for dollar, and the unused portion of a refundable credit is still payable to the taxpayer.

Between February 2013 and June 2014, Zarate-Flores received $1,201,935.00 in U.S. Treasury refund checks from his scheme.

“This sentence must send a message to others that tax fraud offenses are serious crimes that require significant sentences,” said United States District Judge J.P. Stadtmueller during the sentencing hearing.

The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Keith S. Alexander.

For further information, contact Public Information Officer Dean Puschnig at (414) 297-1700.

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