Ana Portillo, False Claims Conspiracy, North Carolina 2012

Charlotte Woman Pleads Guilty to $5.1M Tax Refund Scheme, Faces Up to 10 Years in Prison

A Charlotte woman has pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme to defraud the government by obtaining false and fraudulent income tax refunds. Ana Portillo, 42, of Charlotte, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of false claims conspiracy, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Anne M. Tompkins.

Portillo and her co-conspirators used false tax identification numbers to seek more than $5 million in refunds, court documents show. The scheme involved obtaining Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) for various individuals using Mexican birth certificates and other documents.

The co-conspirators then used these ITIN numbers to prepare false federal tax returns seeking fraudulent refunds claiming false wage, income, and withholding information and claiming multiple dependents. Part of the scheme was renting apartments at complexes featuring centralized mailboxes and using addresses at the apartment complexes as the addresses on the fraudulent tax returns.

Court records indicate that the co-conspirators caused the Treasury Department to mail the false tax refund checks to these specially chosen addresses. At least 1,104 fraudulent tax returns have been associated with the conspiracy, claiming $5.1 million in refunds. Of this amount, the IRS issued refunds totaling approximately $1.6 million.

Portillo’s co-conspirators, Cathy Cisneros, 30, and Candida Figueroa, 42, both of Charlotte, previously pleaded guilty to one count of false claims conspiracy for the same scheme, in October and November 2012, respectively. Portillo has been released on bond pending sentencing, while Figueroa and Cisneros have been in local federal custody since August 2012. A sentencing date for Portillo and her co-conspirators has not been set.

Each defendant faces a maximum prison term of 10 years, a $250,000 fine, or both. The investigation was handled by IRS-Criminal Investigations Division with substantial assistance from the U.S. Postal Service. The prosecution is being handled for the government by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jenny Grus Sugar of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte.

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