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IR-2024-308, Dec. 6, 2024 ¡ª On the final day of National Tax Security Awareness Week, the Internal Revenue Service and its Security Summit partners urged tax professionals to reassess their plans for protecting themselves and their clients¡¯ sensitive information amid increasing attempts by identity thieves to steal tax data.

March 14, 2024 ¡ª Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, and Carissa Messick, Acting Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation Phoenix Field Office, announced today that Victor Kearney was sentenced to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay $1,188,645.00 in restitution. A federal jury convicted Kearney, of Zephyr Cove, Nevada, for filing false tax returns on March 10, 2023.

April 8, 2025 ¡ª An Atlanta-area man was arrested this morning by IRS Criminal Investigation special agents on federal charges alleging he fraudulently converted two businesses¡¯ IRS accounts to his name and address. The defendant received tax refund checks ¨C including one for more than $32 million ¨C that were to be paid out to these two businesses.

IR-2024-101, April 9, 2024 ¡ª The Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service today issued proposed regulations that would provide taxpayers and tax professionals with new guidance concerning the one percent excise tax owed on corporate stock repurchases.

June 4, 2025 ¡ª Phyllip Hallman Heaton, of Washington City, Utah, was sentenced to 5 months¡¯ imprisonment and 18 months¡¯ supervised release (including six months of home detention) after he evaded paying taxes for six years.

June 16, 2025 ¡ª Syracuse, NY ¨C Robert Rahrle, formerly of Florida and now residing in the Northern District of New York, was sentenced last week to 100 months¡¯ imprisonment to be followed by 3 years of supervised release for wire fraud and tax evasion. United States Attorney John A. Sarcone III and Harry T. Chavis, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), made the announcement.

July 7, 2023 ¡ª U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Mark Totten today announced that Rashad Maleek Trice has been charged by criminal complaint with Kidnapping a Minor and Kidnapping Resulting in Death. These allegations relate to the kidnapping and death of 2-year-old Wynter Cole-Smith. If convicted of the Kidnapping Resulting in Death charge, the statutory mandatory minimum is life in prison. This offense is also death penalty eligible. If convicted of Kidnapping a Minor, the statutory mandatory minimum is 20 years in prison with a maximum possible sentence of life in prison.

Oct. 2, 2024 ¡ª Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Martin Handler was sentenced today to 58 months in prison for defrauding the federal Head Start program, misappropriating over $1 million from his federally-funded childcare company, and tax evasion.

Jan. 27, 2025 ¡ª United States District Judge Wendy W. Berger today sentenced James Darrell Hickox (Callahan) to 17 years and 6 months in federal prison for multiple federal offenses including conspiring to distribute narcotics, conspiring to defraud the United States, and tax evasion. The court also ordered Hickox to forfeit or abandon the money, firearms, and ammunition involved in these offenses. Hickox pleaded guilty on May 15, 2024.

June 23, 2025 ¡ª The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced that Menachem ¡°Max¡± Lieberman was sentenced today to 52 months in prison for two fraudulent schemes involving federally funded childcare companies. Lieberman previously pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Jennifer H. Rearden, who imposed today¡¯s sentence.