A Brooklyn woman has been accused of orchestrating a brazen tax refund scam, netting her hundreds of thousands of dollars in illicit gains.
Ehrenfriede Kauapirura, a Brooklyn-based dietitian, was arrested on [date] following an indictment returned by a grand jury earlier this week. The indictment charges Kauapirura with filing false tax returns, obstructing the IRS, and willful failure to file tax returns.
According to the indictment, Kauapirura filed a false 2015 amended tax return and a false 2016 tax return, claiming hundreds of thousands of dollars in fictitious tax withholdings. This allegedly entitled her to refunds of approximately $250,000 for each year. In a desperate bid to evade the IRS, Kauapirura allegedly transferred money from her personal bank account to a bank account owned by a trust that she controlled.
The IRS launched a collections proceeding to recoup the refunds paid out to Kauapirura, but she allegedly thwarted their efforts by submitting a bogus $1 million check drawn on a non-existent bank as payment of her tax obligations. Furthermore, Kauapirura allegedly did not timely file individual tax returns with the IRS for the years 2017 through 2020.
If convicted, Kauapirura faces up to three years in prison for each count of filing false tax returns, three years in prison for obstructing the IRS, and one year in prison for each of four counts of willful failure to file a tax return. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The case is being investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation. Trial Attorneys Michael C. Vasiliadis and Kenneth C. Vert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division are prosecuting the case. Ehrenfriede Kauapirura is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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