A foreign national residing outside of the United States has pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering and aggravated identity theft in a brazen tax refund scheme that involved the use of stolen identities.
Yoandy Perez Llanes, 33, pleaded guilty to two counts before United States District Judge Mark R. Hornak.
In connection with the guilty plea, the court was advised that early in 2014, tens of thousands of present and former employees of UPMC had their personal information compromised by hackers, who intruded into a UPMC computerized database and stole names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth and other personal identifying information.
This data was then used to file over 900 false 2013 federal tax returns, which contained requests for tax refunds onto Amazon.com gift cards.
Llanes and other conspirators laundered the Amazon.com gift cards to purchase electronic merchandise, which was shipped through reshipping services to Venezuela, and retrieved by Llanes and others.
While the perpetrators claimed approximately $2.2 million in unlawful refunds, $1,475,000 million was actually disbursed in unlawful refunds.
Judge Hornak scheduled sentencing for August 18, 2017 at 9:30 a.m.
Related Federal Cases
- Gerardo Heriberto Nuñez Nuñez, Elder Fraud Scheme, Boston MA, 2026 · Pennsylvania
- Emily Wilson, Investment Adviser Fraud, Pennsylvania, 2023 · Virginia
- No Defendant Name Found, Bank Fraud Scheme, USA, 2022 · New York
- Marc Henry Menard, Investment Fraud Scheme, Mineola NY, 2023 · Georgia
- Marc Henry Menard, Investment Fraud Scheme, New York, 2023 · Georgia
Key Facts
- State: Pennsylvania
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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