Marcos Daniel Jiménez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Brian Wimpling, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Criminal Investigation Division, Miami Field Office, announced that three (3) individuals have been charged in two (2) Indictments with conspiracy to make and present fraudulent tax returns to the IRS, making and presenting fraudulent tax returns to the IRS, and/or preparing and assisting in the preparation and presentation of fraudulent tax returns to the IRS.

As alleged in these two (2) Indictments, the fraudulent schemes orchestrated by these defendants typically involved the recruitment of taxpayers with promises of larger refunds. The defendants prepared and filed, or were involved in the preparation and filing, with the IRS income tax returns on behalf of taxpayers which falsely represented, among other things, the income of these taxpayers, the employment of these taxpayers, and/or the taxpayers’ allowable deductions. All of this was done to fraudulently cause the IRS to issue much larger than warranted income tax refunds. More often than not, the taxpayers were unaware of the fraudulent nature of the income tax returns which these defendants were preparing and filing with the IRS on their behalf, and would usually receive only a portion of the refunds paid by the IRS. The tax fraud schemes perpetrated by these defendants involved the filing with the IRS of at least 81 fraudulent income tax returns during the course of several years, which ultimately resulted in fraudulent income tax refund claims totaling at least $333,314.

INDICTMENTS BY THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE

1. U.S. v. Edgardo Manuel Romano
Case No. 04-20242-Cr-SEITZ

On April 20, 2004, a federal grand jury returned an Indictment charging defendant, Edgardo Manuel Romano, with ten (10) counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of false income tax returns to the IRS, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(2). The Indictment alleges that for calendar tax years 2000 through 2003 Romano prepared and submitted United States Individual Tax Returns claiming tax refunds on behalf of several taxpayers, knowing that these returns contained materially false information. Specifically, Romano would prepare and submit to the IRS tax returns that claimed itemized deductions based on fictitious medical expenses, fictitious personal property tax expenses, fictitious charitable contributions, fictitious casualty and theft losses, and/or fictitious job and other miscellaneous expenses. Romano’s tax fraud scheme involved the submission to the IRS of approximately fifty-eight (58) fraudulent income tax returns that resulted in false tax refund claims of over $229,000.

If convicted, the maximum statutory term of imprisonment is three (3) years as to each of the preparation and presentation of fraudulent income tax return counts.

2. U.S. v. Rudolph Etawroo and Albian Petrus
Case No. 04-20260-Cr-SEITZ

On April 27, 2004, a federal grand jury returned an Indictment charging defendant, Rudolph Etawroo, with one count of conspiracy to make and present fraudulent claims against the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 286, and seventeen (17) counts of making and presenting fraudulent claims against the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 287. The Indictment also charged co-defendant, Albian Petrus, with one count of conspiracy to make and present fraudulent claims against the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 286, and eight (8) counts of making and presenting fraudulent claims against the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 287.

The Indictment alleges that between early May 2000 through at least June 2001, the defendants participated in a scheme during to file false federal income tax returns that contained fraudulent refund claims. The scheme involved recruiting individuals to provide their social security numbers and other identifying information, in order for federal income tax returns to be prepared for the recruited individuals. Federal income tax returns would be filed with false and fraudulent information relating to the individuals’ income or false and fraudulent Schedule A deductions, Schedule C deductions, or credits for educational expenses. The scheme also involved using fraudulent Forms W-2 to support the false income information on the returns. The Indictment further alleges that the members of the conspiracy would profit by retaining a portion of the tax refunds that had been fraudulently obtained on behalf of the recruited individuals.

If convicted, the maximum statutory term of imprisonment is ten (10) years as to the conspiracy count and five (5) years as to each of the fraudulent claims counts.

Mr. Jiménez commended the investigative efforts of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation. These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Michael S. Davis and Rosa Rodriguez-Mera.