Impoverished Taxpayers Were Recruited to
Allow Their Names and SSNs to be Used in Filing Fraudulent Returns
DALLAS - All six defendants convicted for their respective roles in a tax refund scheme involving the misuse of the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit, have now been sentenced, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas
At a hearing yesterday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis sentenced Rickel Shine to 34 months in prison and ordered him to pay nearly $115,000 in restitution. Jarrod Phread Altman was sentenced to eight months’ home confinement as part of a three-year term of probation. Judge Solis will impose restitution as to Jarrod Phread Altman at a later date.
Three other defendants convicted in the case, Jason Phread Altman, Emanuel James Harrison and Fread Jamille Jenkins were each recently sentenced to 84 months in federal prison. Jason Altman, Harrison, and Jenkins were each ordered to pay restitution of more than $860,000. Billy Hamilton was sentenced to 13 months in federal prison and ordered to pay nearly $52,000 in restitution.
According to factual resumes filed in the case, Jason Altman and his brother, Jarrod Altman, and Emanuel James Harrison owned and operated a tax preparation business, Tax On the Run, located in Dallas. Jenkins worked as office manager for the business, while Shine and Hamilton worked as intermediaries and recruited clients on behalf of the owners.
Beginning in March 2009, Jason and Jarrod Altman, Jenkins, Harrison, Shine and Hamilton conspired to defraud the IRS, according to the factual resumes filed in the case. They used Tax On the Run to file false Forms 1040, in the names of numerous clients, which overstated and fabricated income and tax deductions on Schedule C and Forms 5405 by falsely representing that the taxpayers were entitled, under the provisions of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, to claim a tax credit as a first-time homebuyer. As part of the scheme, according to factual resumes filed in their cases, Shine and Hamilton acted as intermediaries to recruit clients, and they were paid after they recruited impoverished taxpayers to allow their names and social security numbers to be used to file fraudulent tax returns. The fraudulent returns were routinely filed even though the tax preparers never met the taxpayers and with the full knowledge that none of the taxpayers qualified to claim the credit, according to the factual resumes.
Tax On the Run used Santa Barbara Bank and Trust (SBBT) to process refund anticipation loans based on the fraudulent returns filed. The factual resumes filed further state that after electronically filing the false tax returns, Tax On the Run would be notified by SBBT that the loan had been approved and a check could be printed and provided to the taxpayer. Once the check was printed, the taxpayer was transported to a local check cashing business and instructed to cash the refund check. After it was cashed, members of the conspiracy paid the taxpayer a small percentage of the refund and kept the remainder of the proceeds, according to the factual resume.
Defendant Jarrod Altman admitted, according to the factual resume filed in his case, that during tax year 2009, he failed to report approximately $71,133 in taxable income that was obtained from his business, Tax On the Run. Of that amount, Jarrod Altman admitted that he received $53,140 in the form of a payment by check from Jason Altman for a 2007 Mercedes Benz S550, which was purchased in June 2009, for Jarrod Altman’s use, with money from Tax On the Run. He further admitted that he falsely reported $57,207 in taxable income for tax year 2009 that did not include the $71,133 income described above, and as a result of his false statements regarding his taxable income, Jarrod Altman caused $20,135 in tax harm to the IRS.
The investigation was conducted by IRS Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys J. Nicholas Bunch, Brian Poe and Rick Calvert prosecuted.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
