Tax crime doesn’t pay — coverage of tax fraud, evasion, and financial crime prosecutions, and what they mean for the rest of us.
Recently, a New Jersey woman was sentenced for her involvement in an infamous GoFundMe scam. The saga is a good reminder that you should take care before handing over your hard-earned cash—even if it’s for a great cause. Here are a few tips to consider. Post-column update: On August 5, 2022, Mark D’Amico was sentenced…
The IRS Criminal Investigation agency started a little over 100 years ago as an intelligence unit within the IRS, with nothing more than a few Post Office inspectors. Over the years, IRS-CI has become world-renowned for its ability to investigate abusive tax schemes, financial fraud, and many other crimes. With COVID-19 and PPP loans among…
A woman who faked her resume for years in exchange for high-paying executive gigs is finally going to prison. That was the word out of the Department of Justice in a case that has all of the makings of a daytime television plot. Sonja Emery was known at various times as Sonja Lee Robinson, Sonjalee…
On this day in 1931, Al Capone was found guilty of tax evasion. The gangster who had reportedly boasted, “They can’t collect legal taxes from illegal money” was sentenced to 11 years in prison for failing to file tax returns. Alphonse Gabriel Capone was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1899, to Italian immigrants. His…
Together with the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigations (CI) division announced what is being called the largest ever tax charge against an individual in the United States. Robert T. Brockman, a 79-year-old resident of Texas, and the chairman and CEO of The Reynolds…
Some of the biggest crime cases in history involve financial disputes and tax evasion. Kelly introduces her favorite museum, The Mob Museum, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The museum focuses on mob crime history including the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in Chicago involving Al Capone. Capone refused to file a tax return claiming that “They can’t…
On September 23, 2018, police in York County, Pennsylvania, responded to reports of a shooting. When they arrived, they learned that a couple had been shot: Kimberly Forney was struck in her lower leg, and Matthew Forney had been hit twice in his upper chest. The culprit? The couple’s son-in-law, Robert Hedrick. Hedrick told police…
The feds have made another arrest tied to Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan fraud. This time, it’s an attorney facing charges. Jae H. Choi, who has an office in Fort Lee, New Jersey, has been accused of fraudulently obtaining nearly $9 million in PPP loans. Choi has been charged with three counts of bank fraud…
The Justice Department has announced action against two hacks of virtual currency exchanges by North Korean actors. According to court documents, the actors stole millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency and laundered the funds through Chinese over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency traders. Now, the Justice Department is seeking to recover those funds through the filing of a…
Did you know that the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) is the only federal agency that devotes 100% of resources to investigating financial crimes? IRS-CI is also the only agency with jurisdiction over federal tax crimes. You can test how much you know about the agency here: [forminator_quiz id=”53599″] How’d you do? For…
