Margaret Ortiz, 35, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania pleaded guilty today to an Indictment charging her with Conspiracy to defraud the United States through claims, announced United States Attorney William M. McSwain.
According to the indictment and her admissions to the Court, Margaret Ortiz and others engaged in a scheme to deposit and cash federal income tax refund checks that were obtained by the filing of false federal income tax returns. The returns were filed in the names of stolen identities and, in the majority of cases, falsely claimed refunds of taxes that were never withheld. The total of the fraudulently obtained refund checks deposited into accounts Ortiz controlled exceeded $80,000.
As a result of her guilty plea, the defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine, and a $100 special assessment. United States District Judge Paul S. Diamond set sentencing for July 26, 2018.
The case was investigated by Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David J. Ignall.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
