obÌåÓý

December 15, 2023 ¡ª A Bellevue, Washington, tax preparer was indicted this week on 14 counts of aiding and assisting with the preparation and presentation of false tax returns, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. Thanjavur Manavalan, the owner and operator of Mano Accounting Services, made his initial appearance on the indictment today. He entered a plea of "not guilty," and trial was scheduled in front of U.S. District Judge Lauren King on February 20, 2024.

Nov. 22, 2024 ¡ª A pair of repairmen that earned more than $1.5 million from elderly customers for home repair services appeared in federal court today and pleaded guilty to tax fraud, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. David Angelo Quick of Charlotte, and Tony Joshua Christo formerly of Charlotte, now residing in Florida, pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return.

Oct. 31, 2024 ¡ª United States Attorney Zachry A. Cunha announced today that a Rhode Island mortgage broker who purported to match borrowers seeking short-term loans with private lenders seeking high rates of return admitted to a federal judge that he misappropriated more than $1.5 million dollars of investors¡¯ funds by using the money to repay earlier investors, support his own international investment opportunities, and to cover personal expenses.

Aug. 23, 2024 ¡ª United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced Mario Espino, of Holiday, pleaded guilty to five counts of a superseding indictment charging him with kidnapping, possessing methamphetamine and fentanyl with the intent to distribute, and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Espino faces minimum mandatory penalties amounting to 15 years, up to life, in federal prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Oct. 31, 2024.

July 15, 2022 ¡ª A three-year investigation into an Oklahoma prison-based drug trafficking organization has resulted in 21 defendants being convicted across multiple federal cases. The wrap-up of this investigation and prosecution is jointly announced by Robert J. Troester, United States Attorney, Christopher Altemus, IRS Criminal Investigations, Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Field Office, Edward Chavez, DEA Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Field Office, and Wade Gourley, Chief of Police, Oklahoma City Police Department.

May 15, 2023 ¡ª U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman sentenced Edward Scott Finn of Dunkirk, Maryland, today to 16 months in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release, for a tax evasion charge. Finn is a former Lieutenant with the Prince George¡¯s County Police Department and owned and operated Edward Finn Inc. (EFI), a private company. Judge Boardman also ordered Finn to pay restitution in the full amount of the loss, $367,765.

May 15, 2024 ¡ª Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York; Lisa Monaco, the Deputy Attorney General of the United States; and Thomas Fattorusso, the Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS CI), announced today the unsealing of an indictment charging Anton Peraire-Bueno and James Peraire-Bueno with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Aug. 21, 2024 ¡ª Two additional defendants were sentenced this week in a national COVID-19 fraud, including, Toni A. Smith, who was sentenced to 15 months in prison; and Dontae Antonio Murphy, who was sentenced to 12 months in prison. Collectively, these Defendants were also ordered to pay several hundred thousand dollars in restitution to the Small Business Administration, which included interest and processing fees, for fraudulently obtaining Paycheck Protection Act (¡°PPP¡±) COVID-19 loans.

Feb. 15, 2024 ¡ª Timothy Blackman of Daniel Island, South Carolina, was sentenced today in federal court in Utica to 24 months in prison after previously pleading guilty to filing a false federal income tax return. United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman; Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department¡¯s Tax Division; and Thomas Fattorusso, Executive Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (CI), New York Field Office, made the announcement.

May 15, 2024 ¡ª United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that James Darrell Hickox of Jacksonville has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute narcotics, one count of conspiring to defraud the United States, and one count of tax evasion. Hickox faces a combined maximum penalty of 50 years in federal prison for these offenses, including a minimum mandatory sentence of 5 years¡¯ imprisonment for the drug distribution conspiracy. He has agreed to forfeit the money, firearms, and ammunition traceable to these offenses.