Transaction Involved Fraudulently-obtained Tax Refund
GREENSBORO, N.C. - A Durham resident was sentenced on Aug. 30, 2017, for money laundering, announced Sandra J. Hairston, Acting United States Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina.
DAGLISH OMARI OSORO, 30, of Durham, North Carolina, pleaded guilty on May 1, 2017, to one count of engaging in a monetary transaction involving funds derived from the filing of a fraudulent tax return in the name of a third party. He was sentenced by United States District Judge Thomas D. Schroeder to 17 months imprisonment followed by 3 years supervised release. OSORO was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $184,445.00.
According to court documents and proceedings, OSORO orchestrated a scheme using others to have eleven (11) to fourteen (14) false individual income tax returns filed with the Internal Revenue Service requesting tax refunds be deposited into a Wachovia/Wells Fargo bank account in the name of OSORO and other members of the conspiracy. Of these false tax returns, only one passed the inspection of the IRS so that a tax refund in the amount of $184,495.00 was authorized and wired to the Wachovia/Wells Fargo bank account on Nov. 18, 2011. OSORO contacted his co-conspirators to inform them of the deposit and they then began to withdraw the funds from ATM’s, in-person branch withdrawals in the amounts of $25,000.00 to $48,000.00 and transfers to other accounts. By December 2011, at least $100,000.00 of the tax refund was withdrawn before the bank accounts were closed for fraud and thereby freezing the remaining balance.
This case was investigated by Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by AUSA Frank Chut and SAUSA Kennedy Gates.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
