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Paralegal Sentenced to 27 Months in Prison for Mail Fraud and Tax Evasion
OAKLAND – Ana Lissa Reyes, a former paralegal with a Bay Area law firm, has been sentenced to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay $327,795 in restitution to victims of her mail fraud scheme, and $67,448 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service for tax evasion, announced United States Attorney Melinda Haag.
Reyes, 42, of San Lorenzo, pleaded guilty on April 17, 2014, to one count of mail fraud and one count of tax evasion. According to her plea agreement, Reyes worked as a secretary, office manager, and paralegal for the law firm, and used her position to settle claims without the knowledge of the law firm or its clients, and stole the settlement proceeds.
Reyes admitted to engaging clients without the law firm’s knowledge and to stealing their retainer fee payments. She also created a bogus company, “Lincoln Litigation,” to correspond with clients, and to defraud them into believing that their cases were ongoing.
Reyes admitted to embezzling a total of $327,795 from the law firm and its clients, and under-reporting her income for the calendar years 2006 through 2011. For each of those tax years, Reyes admitted that she knew her joint taxable income was substantially in excess of the amount stated on the return, resulting in additional tax due and owing to the United States.
Reyes was charged in an information on January 25, 2013, and waived indictment on January 31, 2013. She was charged with five counts of mail fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341, and six counts of tax evasion, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201.
The sentence was handed down by the Honorable Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, U.S. District Court Judge. Reyes will begin serving the sentence on August 11, 2014. She was also sentenced to a three-year period of supervised release.
The prosecution is the result of a year-long investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and IRS, Criminal Investigation. Wade Rhyne is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Janice Pagsanjan and Patty Lau.
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Key Facts
- State: California
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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