NEW YORK
A federal judge sentenced a Canadian citizen to 11 years and three months in prison for his role in submitting phony tax returns to the IRS, according to officials.
A jury convicted Kevin Cyster, 52, of Burlington, Ontario, in September after a six-day trial in Rochester, New York.
According to court documents and testimony at trial, Cyster was part of a group of Canadian citizens that filed nearly $10 million in tax returns with the IRS and received $3.5 million in refunds before the tax fraud scheme was detected.
U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr. of New York, on Monday also ordered that Cyster pay $3.5 million as restitution to the IRS, officials said.
Cyster was conviction for one count of conspiracy to defraud and commit theft of government funds, one count of making a false claim and two counts of transferring stolen money in foreign commerce, federal officials said.
On these tax returns, officials said Cyster and his co-conspirators falsely claimed that nearly $10 million in federal income taxes had been withheld on their behalf by various Canadian financial institutions and paid over to the IRS.
The testimony at trial established that these false tax forms were created and filed with the IRS by Californian Ronald Brekke, 55, of Orange County, California.
Renee Jarvis, 51, of Ontario one of Cyster’s co-conspirators, testified that co-conspirators held meetings at Cyster’s home at which Cyster promoted the 1099-OID scheme.
Jarvis plead guilty in June 2014 to conspiracy to defraud the United States and to commit theft of government funds. Her sentencing is set for next week.
Brekke was sentenced in June 2012 to 12 years in prison after a jury convicted him of promoting a tax fraud scheme.