Sean Aude Gallman, Tax Refund Fraud, Maryland 2024

Sean and Eric Gallman

In a brazen scheme, two Maryland brothers, Sean Aude Gallman, 39, of Upper Marlboro, and Eric Maurice Gallman, 42, of Huntersville, North Carolina, pleaded guilty to filing approximately 37 fraudulent tax returns seeking refunds of over $218 million. The duo managed to receive $16 million in refunds after mailing bogus tax returns to the IRS.

The brothers, who acted as trustees and agents for various trusts and business entities, used mailboxes at private commercial postal carrier stores in Maryland and North Carolina to mail the fake tax returns. They requested refunds totaling $218,094,765, for which the IRS paid two refunds totaling $16,512,492.

Sean Gallman, the mastermind behind the scheme, also pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft and money laundering charges. The brothers’ scheme came to light in 2013, when they deposited refund checks worth $8,218,930 and $8,293,562 into bank accounts they controlled.

To hide their ill-gotten gains, the brothers used cashier’s checks and other financial instruments to transfer a portion of the money to third parties and other bank accounts. The IRS seeks the forfeiture of the two refunds, including $11,529,954 seized from numerous bank accounts and nine residential properties located in Upper Marlboro and Laurel, Maryland, and North Carolina and South Carolina.

U.S. District Judge Paul W. Grimm has scheduled sentencing for May 17, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. The brothers face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud, conspiring to commit money laundering and mail fraud. Sean Gallman also faces an additional two years in prison for aggravated identity theft, to be served consecutively.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo and U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the work of special agents from the IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case and brought the brothers to justice.

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