RAYMOND LEO JARLIK BELL, a Yelm, Washington man, was sentenced to 97 months in prison and three years of supervised release for a tax fraud scheme. BELL was convicted of five counts of filing false, fictitious and fraudulent claims, 15 counts of assisting in filing false tax returns, three counts of mail fraud, and one count of criminal contempt.
JARLIK BELL and his wife, Ute Christine Jarlik Bell, are members of the so-called ‘Sovereign Citizen’ movement, which professes a belief that both state and federal government entities are illegitimate. U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton imposed $705,276 in restitution, saying, ‘Your scheme… is fraud at its core. You are hurting people intentionally, regardless of your adherence to [your beliefs].’
‘This defendant held himself out as a tax expert with contacts at the IRS – when both the IRS and a federal judge told him repeatedly that his conduct was criminal,’ said U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan. ‘Mr. Jarlik Bell believed he was above the law, and aggressively promoted and spread his scheme to others looking to duck their fair share and steal tax dollars through fraudulent refunds.’
The JARLIK BELL investigation centered on the filing of false tax returns using a scheme known as OID fraud; BELL advised and assisted others in using the scheme. In 2006, BELL obtained a tax refund in excess of $30,000 using the scheme. Numerous others who were advised by JARLIK BELL also filed for and received fraudulent refunds they did not deserve. One woman received a tax refund of more than $590,000.
In 2005, JARLIK BELL was ordered by U.S. District Judge Robert J. Bryan to stop promoting fraudulent tax schemes. Less than three years later, he was back promoting another massive tax fraud among friends, family and strangers. ‘No matter what the promoter calls it, a scheme to file bogus tax returns claiming outrageous tax ‘refunds’ that don’t belong to you, is just fraud,’ said Kenneth J. Hines, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation in Seattle.
Ute Christine Jarlik Bell was convicted of four counts of filing false, fictitious and fraudulent claims. She will be sentenced June 18, 2013.
The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), the FBI, ATF, the Federal Protective Service and the U.S. Marshal Service. The cases were prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jill Otake and Matthew Diggs.
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Key Facts
- State: Washington
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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