Roberto Diaz, Identity Theft, New Jersey 2012

NEWARK, N.J. – Florida man Roberto Diaz, 48, formerly of Demarest, New Jersey, was sentenced to 17 months in prison for his role in a massive stolen identity income tax scheme that netted over $65 million in losses to the United States.

According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court, Diaz, along with other members of the conspiracy, obtained personal identifiers, such as dates of birth and Social Security numbers, belonging to Puerto Rican citizens. The conspirators then completed Individual Income Tax Return 1040 Forms using the fraudulently obtained information, making it appear that the listed taxpayers were entitled to refunds.

At his plea hearing, Diaz admitted that he received fraudulently obtained refund checks and deposited them into bank accounts he controlled or were in the names of his associates or their companies. Diaz also admitted to conspiring to bribe a mail carrier to intercept refund checks before they were delivered to the people who had their identity stolen as part of the scheme.

Diaz admitted to being responsible for depositing or causing the deposit of over $4.7 million in fraudulently obtained tax refund checks. In addition to the prison term, Judge Claire C. Cecchi sentenced Diaz to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay restitution of $4,773,043.43.

The $65 million scheme involved more than 8,000 fraudulent income tax returns and losses to the United States of over $12 million. Law enforcement officers identified the specific IP addresses from which the returns were submitted, tracing only a handful of IP addresses responsible for filing the fraudulent returns.

During the investigation, law enforcement identified ‘hot spots’ of activity and intercepted more than $22 million in fraudulently claimed refunds before they were delivered to members of the conspiracy. Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick credited special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, special agents of the U.S. Secret Service, special agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration, and special agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, with the investigation.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Zach Intrater of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Economic Crimes Unit in Newark. Defense counsel is Paul Brickfield, Esq., of River Edge, New Jersey.

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