{"id":49390,"date":"2022-04-12T15:02:54","date_gmt":"2022-04-12T22:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=49390"},"modified":"2022-04-12T15:05:20","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T22:05:20","slug":"man-sentence-to-prison-for-his-role-in-a-7-6-million-irs-scam-involving-200-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=49390","title":{"rendered":"Man Sentence to Prison for His Role in a $7.6 Million IRS Scam Involving 200 People"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"A judge on Tuesday sentenced a Florida man to 51 months in prison for his role in a $7.6 million nationwide tax fraud scheme, officials stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

The scheme involved more than 200 people in at least 19 states, according to authorities.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the evidence, Aaron Aqueron, of Clermont, recruited clients to the fraud scheme by convincing them that their mortgages and other debts entitled them to tax refunds. <\/span><\/p>\n

Aqueron collected tax and financial information from the clients to send to co-conspirators, who prepared tax returns and other tax documents to submit to the IRS. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"These tax returns falsely claimed that banks and other financial institutions had withheld large amounts of income tax from the participants, thereby entitling the clients to a refund. <\/span><\/p>\n

In reality, the financial institutions had not paid or filed any income for these individuals. In total, the tax returns filed by Aqueron\u2019s clients sought more than $14.6 million in tax refunds and caused the IRS to actually pay out more than $7.6 million.<\/span><\/p>\n

As part of his plea, Aqueron admitted he and his co-conspirators received fees from his clients ranging from $10,000 to $15,000 each. <\/span><\/p>\n

Aqueron further admitted he did not report on his 2015 individual tax return the income he received from the scheme. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Aqueron also personally filed false tax returns for other years on which he fraudulently claimed that he was entitled to tax refunds. In response to one of these false tax returns, the IRS issued Aqueron a refund of $193,347.97.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aqueron further admitted that, pursuant to the fraud scheme, he attempted to obstruct the IRS\u2019s efforts to collect the tax refunds it issued to his clients. <\/span><\/p>\n

Aqueron and his co-conspirators coached clients on ways to obstruct IRS collection efforts. <\/span><\/p>\n

For example, after learning one client had begun to receive letters from the IRS about collections, Aqueron instructed the client: \u201cMake sure you move money out of your name and out of the banking institutions and be smart.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Aqueron also attempted to obstruct IRS efforts to collect his own fraudulently-obtained refund, including by transferring money into a trust.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last month, the main promoter of the fraud scheme, Iran Backstrom, was sentenced to more than eight years in prison. Backstrom\u2019s second-in-command, Mehef Bey, was sentenced to 11 years in prison.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to the term of imprisonment, the district judge also ordered Aqueron to serve three years of supervised release and pay approximately $5.9 million in restitution to the IRS.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A judge on Tuesday sentenced a Florida man to 51 months in prison for his role in a $7.6 million nationwide tax fraud scheme, officials stated. The scheme involved more than 200…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3255],"tags":[473,1725],"class_list":["post-49390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-federal-court","tag-fraud","tag-irs"],"yoast_head":"\nMan Sentence to Prison for His Role in a $7.6 Million IRS Scam Involving 200 People<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A judge on Tuesday sentenced a Florida man to 51 months in prison for his role in a $7.6 million nationwide tax fraud scheme, officials stated. 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