United States Attorney Andrew M. Luger announced the sentencing of JULIUS LEE BOSTON, 37, to 41 months in prison for filing false income tax returns seeking approximately $135,000. BOSTON pleaded guilty on Aug. 31, 2016, before U.S. District Judge Patrick J. Schiltz.
“At the IRS, protecting taxpayer dollars is a serious matter. Detecting and catching fraudulent tax refund claims is an integral part of our mission," said IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Shea Jones of the St. Paul Field Office. “The 41-month sentencing for Julius Boston serves as a strong warning to those who are considering filing false tax returns to obtain fraudulent refunds this filing season."
According to the defendant’s guilty plea, between July 2011 and at least August 6, 2012, BOSTON filed almost 100 fraudulent income tax returns with the IRS. In order to file the fraudulent income tax returns, BOSTON convinced various people to provide him with their personal identifying information, including dates of birth and social security numbers, to use in filing the returns. He filed returns in the names of those individuals which reported false or inflated W-2 wage income, false withholding amounts, and other fraudulent information.
According to his guilty plea and documents filed in court, during the course of executing the scheme, BOSTON filed fraudulent claims for tax refunds seeking approximately $135,000. The IRS paid more than $64,000 in tax refunds, which BOSTON had mailed to his home or other addresses to which he had access. He later shared a portion of the proceeds of his fraud with the taxpayers who had provided him with their personal identifying information.
This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS, and the United States Postal Inspection Service.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle E. Jones prosecuted the case.
Defendant Information:
JULIUS LEE BOSTON, 37
Convicted:
• Making false claims for tax refunds, two counts
Sentenced:
• 41 months in prison
• Supervised release for a term of three years
• Restitution of $64,139
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
