NEWARK, N.J.
A citizen of the Republic of Bulgaria was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison Friday for his involvement in a $6 
million fraudulent tax return scheme that used personal identifying information stolen from multiple accounting firm networks, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Vanyo Minkov, 33, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares to a superseding information charging him with one count of conspiring to file false and fraudulent tax returns. Judge Linares imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
In late 2012, Minkov and his conspirators hacked into the networks of at least four accounting firms and stole the 2011 tax filings for over 1,000 of the firms’ clients, according to officials.
Minkov and others then used the stolen information to file fraudulent tax returns in the clients’ names for the 2012 tax year or sold the information to others for the same purpose. To date, the IRS has identified over $6 million in fraudulent claims made in connection with the scheme.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Linares ordered Minkov to serve two years of supervised release and pay restitution of $2.7 million.