BUFFALO, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Emmanuel Collins, a/k/a Scooter, 40, Quintella Wilson, 36, and Jocelyn Carson, 28, all of Buffalo, NY, who were convicted of conspiracy to defraud the government with respect to claims (Collins and Carson) and aiding and abetting fraudulent returns, statements, or other documents (Wilson), were sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr. Collins was sentenced to serve 30 months in prison and ordered to pay $110,475 in restitution. Carson was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to pay restitution totaling $19,640. Wilson was sentenced to one year probation and ordered to pay restitution totaling $6,300.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Wei Xiang, who handled the case, stated that between 2012 and 2015, Collins organized various individuals in Buffalo to file fraudulent tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service, claiming false income and tax withholdings on false W-2 forms.
For the tax years 2013 and 2014, defendant Carson provided Collins with her name, date of birth, and social security number. Collins then gave Carson a fraudulent W-2 Form to file with the IRS. In addition, Carson introduced another individual to Collins for the purpose of obtaining a fraudulent W-2 form to be filed with the IRS.
Wilson assisted Collins in part by driving the tax filers to tax return preparers to file the fraudulent forms.
Investigators identified 16 fraudulent filings in the conspiracy that claimed $124,787 in false refunds. Collins generally took a cut of each tax refund that was fraudulently obtained.
The sentencings are the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, under the direction of Jonathan D. Larsen, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge, New York Field Office. #
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
