Borgella Guilty in $400K Tax Refund Fraud Scheme

Paul Borgella, a 35-year-old resident of North Miami Beach, has been convicted by a federal jury of three counts of theft of government funds for his role in a massive identity theft tax refund fraud scheme. The scheme resulted in over $400,000 being defrauded from the U.S. Department of Treasury.

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, announced that Paul Borgella faces up to 10 years in prison following his conviction. Sentencing is set for December 3 before U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke.

In a related case, co-defendant Carl Borgella, 32, also from North Miami Beach, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal tax refunds and theft of government funds. He was sentenced on June 11, 2014, to 36 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $288,044.21 in restitution.

The duo opened a business bank account for “TRCJ Asset Services,” a company incorporated in Florida with Carl Borgella as president and Paul Borgella as vice president. Between January 2011 and September 2011, they used the accounts to receive over 300 fraudulent tax refunds totaling over $400,000.

Their scheme involved filing false tax returns using stolen personal identifying information and then withdrawing money from the accounts for personal expenses. The investigation was a collaborative effort between IRS-CI, the U.S. Secret Service (USSS), and the North Miami Beach Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Vanessa Snyder, Cristina M. Moreno, and Amanda Perwin are prosecuting the case.

For more information, visit the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls, or the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.