Agwel Fayette, Tax Refund Fraud, VA 2024

Agwel Fayette, 32, of Roanoke, Virginia, is headed to federal prison after being sentenced to 33 months for her role in a brazen tax refund fraud scheme that targeted the U.S. Treasury for over $316,000. The judgment, handed down today in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, marks the latest fallout from a conspiracy built on stolen identities and falsified paperwork.

Fayette previously pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit theft of government money and one count of theft of government money, both as a principal and aider and abettor. The court additionally imposed a term of supervised release and ordered Fayette to pay $117,682 in restitution to the Department of the Treasury—money clawed back from a sprawling web of deception she helped orchestrate.

According to evidence presented by Assistant United States Attorney C. Patrick Hogeboom III and Special Assistant United States Attorney Kari Munro, Fayette teamed up with her husband, Darold Daniel, and Florida-based tax preparer Audrey Obin to file more than 58 fraudulent tax returns. Using personal identifiers harvested under false pretenses—often by posing as a recruiter for a fake employment agency—Fayette fed sensitive data to Obin, who processed the bogus filings through his Miami operation, Vision Tax Services.

Obin has already been convicted and sentenced for his role in preparing the fraudulent returns. Investigators say the trio targeted real individuals whose Social Security numbers and personal details were used without consent, turning honest taxpayers into unwitting victims in a cash-grab scheme that spanned state lines and exploited IRS processing systems.

Despite the scale of the scam—seeking more than $316,000 in illegitimate refunds—authorities say the Internal Revenue Service intervened in time to block most of the payouts. Still, significant funds were released before red flags triggered investigations that ultimately unraveled the operation.

The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service and the United States Postal Inspection Service, with prosecution led by Hogeboom and Munro on behalf of the United States. Acting U.S. Attorney Rick A. Mountcastle emphasized that fraud schemes like this one undermine public trust and strain federal resources—crimes that, even in shadow, carry real prison time.