Melvin Orellana, Identity Theft Conspiracy, Georgia 2023

A Georgia man was sentenced yesterday to 18 months in prison for participating in an identity theft conspiracy.

Melvin Orellana, a computer support employee for a company that provided tax software to return preparation businesses throughout the United States, was found guilty of conspiring with King Isaac Umoren, operator of Universal Tax Services (UTS), a Las Vegas-based tax preparation firm, to steal and transfer taxpayer and personal identifying information from the tax software business.

From approximately May 2016 through November 2017, Orellana and Umoren worked together to steal and transfer taxpayer and personal identifying information from the tax software business. Umoren sought this taxpayer information to falsely inflate UTS’s client base in an effort to fraudulently sell UTS to an unsuspecting buyer.

In exchange for the stolen taxpayer data, Umoren agreed to pay Orellana $20,000 after UTS was sold. In August 2017, Orellana provided to Umoren taxpayer data for approximately 12,000 taxpayers whose returns were prepared by businesses using the tax software. In November 2017, Umoren used this taxpayer data to fraudulently sell UTS for $6.7 million.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Gordon for the U.S. District Court of Nevada ordered Orellana to serve three years of supervised release in addition to the term of imprisonment.

The case was investigated by the IRS Criminal-Investigation and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Trial Attorneys Sarah A. Kiewlicz and Patrick Burns of the Justice’s Tax Division prosecuted the case.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Jason M. Frierson for the District of Nevada made the announcement.

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