A Big Island resident, Douglas Mycko, 61, of Kurtistown, Hawaii, was sentenced to four months in federal prison and ordered to pay $561,587.91 in restitution after pleading guilty to filing a false tax return. The sentencing took place in federal court before Senior United States District Judge J. Michael Seabright.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Hawaii, Mycko admitted as part of his plea agreement that he filed false tax returns from 2016 through 2020 by underreporting his business income. This resulted in losses of $244,121 to the federal government and $280,308.91 to the State of Hawaii. Additionally, Mycko acknowledged that he continued operating his business from 2020 through 2023 while falsely claiming unemployment benefits under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. He received $37,158 in PUA funds for which he was not eligible.
"On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts," according to a statement from the Department of Justice.
For more details on how the Department has responded to pandemic-related fraud or how individuals can report suspected fraud involving COVID-19 relief programs, further information is available at https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.
The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aislinn Affinito.
