Ashburn Man Sentenced for Identity Theft and Filing False Tax Returns
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Kouame Innocent Tanoh, 53, of Ashburn, was sentenced today to 54 months in prison for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, followed by three years of supervised release. The defendant also was ordered to pay $671,760 in restitution and $651,769 in a forfeiture money judgment.
Tanoh pleaded guilty on April 24, 2015. According to court documents, from around April 2008 through February 2015, Tanoh obtained individuals’ names and personal identifying information, including their Social Security numbers and dates of birth.
Tanoh acquired some of this information by holding himself out as being a legitimate tax return preparer, through a Virginia company called Alpha and Omega Financial Services. Some of the individuals who provided their personal information to Tanoh were clients of this business.
Tanoh would then use their names and personal identifying information for several different purposes, including the preparation and filing of fraudulent federal and state tax returns that made false claims for tax refunds. To increase the amount of the refund requested by the fraudulent returns, Tanoh would add items to the returns, including false dependents, false businesses on the taxpayer’s Schedule C, false education expenses, and false moving expenses.
The actual loss to the IRS and state departments of revenue as a result of the returns prepared and filed by Tanoh was over $650,000. In addition to filing false tax returns, Tanoh also used other people’s identities, in part because he had no legal status to work or remain in the United States.
From at least 2009 through 2015, Tanoh used the names and personal identifying information of at least eight individuals to seek and obtain employment, housing, and other items of value, such as bank accounts. To facilitate his use of these stolen identities, Tanoh would obtain false means of identification in the victims’ names, including driver’s licenses and Social Security cards.
Related Federal Cases
- Willie C. Grant, Aggravated Identity Theft and Tax Refund Fraud, Georgia 2008 · Washington
- Richard A. Zakarian, Wire Fraud, Mail Fraud, False Income Tax Returns, Ohio 2012 · Virginia
- Nitesh Ratnakar, Tax Evasion, West Virginia, 2023 · North Carolina
- Ammie Brothers, Identity Theft, Columbus GA, 2023 · Virginia
- Barbara Holly Stahlman, Wire Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft, Washington 2014 · Virginia
Key Facts
- State: Virginia
- Category: Cybercrime|Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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