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Alaska Man Sentenced for $19M Tax Fraud
Anchorage, Alaska – U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced today that Maximo Amparo-Vazquez, a/k/a Japhet Soto Santiago, a/k/a Luis Angel Cortez, a/k/a “Kiki”, 27, a citizen of the Dominican Republic formerly residing in Alaska, was sentenced to 84 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release
Amparo-Vazquez pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the government with respect to claims on July 2, 2014. In addition to his prison sentences, Amparo-Vazquez was ordered to pay $559,755 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
Amparo-Vazquez was also sentenced to concurrently serve 24 months of imprisonment for pleading guilty to concealing and not making known to law enforcement the felony conduct of a drug trafficking organization.
According to court documents, from January 2010 to March 2012, Amparo-Vazquez, acting with Joel Santana-Pierna, Abel Santana-Pierna, and others, conspired to use stolen Puerto Rican identities to file income tax returns for the purpose of obtaining fraudulent income tax refunds.
Conspirators in the income tax fraud scheme obtained the stolen identities of more than 2,600 individuals, including people’s names and Social Security numbers. Most of these stolen identities were from citizens of Puerto Rico. Found on a laptop computer that Amparo-Vazquez consented to being searched by the government, were approximately 804 personal identities and $6.375 million in prepared fraudulent tax refund claims. In all, the amount of the conspiracy’s sham returns totaled over $19 million.
Joel Santana-Pierna, Abel Santana-Pierna, Misael Polanco-Villa, Nicolas Jimenez-Sanchez, Isaac Amparo-Vazquez, and Randin Paredes Henriquez, Wedys Ramirez-Javier, Samuel Peguero, Fatima Aguilar Martinez, Melissa Duran-Muniz, and Hilda Josephine Hernandez McMullen were also indicted as conspirators in the scheme. All of the indicted but Samuel Peguero and Wedys Ramirez-Javier have been sentenced. Samuel Peguero is awaiting trial, while Wedys Ramirez-Javier remains a fugitive.
Key Facts
- State: Alaska
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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