A Memphis woman has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for her role in a brazen tax fraud identity theft scheme that bilked the IRS out of nearly $700,000.
Nakita Brooks, 31, was sentenced to 120 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of $690,767.84 to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
According to the indictment, Brooks and her co-conspirator, Cheryl Wright, filed hundreds of false tax returns using the personal identifying information of deceased individuals, including social security numbers.
The scheme, which began as early as February 2010 and continued through at least November 2011, involved setting up tax return services using stolen identities as the preparers of the returns.
In 2010, the name of the company used to prepare the returns was Rattler’s Tax Pals. In 2011, the name of the company used to prepare the returns was Taxes Express.
Three individuals, including a nine-year-old girl from Indiana, had their tax information fraudulently listed as the preparers for these companies.
The investigation was conducted by IRS Criminal Investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Pritchard represented the government.
Wright is scheduled to be sentenced July 24, 2014, before U.S. District Judge John T. Fowlkes, Jr.
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Key Facts
- State: Tennessee
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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