Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 23:46:20 EDT From: Subject: File 6--Calif. Woman Convicted in Computerized Tax Refund Scheme California Woman Convicted in Income Tax Refund Scheme Press release from the U.S. Justice Department. To: National Desk, California Correspondent Contact: U.S. Department of Justice, 202-514-2007 FRESNO, Calif., Aug. 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Acting Assistant Attorney General James A. Bruton and the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of California, George L. O'Connell, announced Monday, Aug. 17, that Enedina Ochoa of Turlock, Calif., 26, was convicted by a federal jury on Friday, Aug. 14, of one count of conspiracy to defraud the government and 20 counts of assisting others in filing false income tax refund claims with the Internal Revenue Service. The jury trial lasted four days before United States District Judge Oliver W. Wanger. Wanger ordered Ochoa held in custody pending sentencing. Ochoa's scheme exploited the Internal Revenue Service's newly implemented electronic filing system, which allows filers of refund claims to receive their refund checks in one or two days. By causing large numbers of false refund claims to be electronically filed, Ochoa and her co-conspirator, Karleena Pulido, fraudulently obtained approximately $100,000 from the Internal Revenue Service. Most of the criminal activity involved 1991 federal income tax returns filed earlier this year. Ochoa and Pulido, a Turlock income tax preparer who pled guilty two weeks ago to conspiracy to defraud the government and 29 counts of assisting others in filing false claims for income tax refunds, engaged in a scheme to electronically file false refund claims with the I.R.S. by recruiting individuals to provide their real names and social security numbers for use by Pulido on false Forms W-2 which Pulido fabricated. Ochoa then assisted the recruited individuals in electronically filing these false refund claims with the I.R.S. from electronic return transmitters such as Cash-N-Dash, an income tax transmittal and check cashing service headquartered in Fresno. Ochoa and Pulido then divided divided the refund proceeds among themselves and the individuals they recruited. The long-standing I.R.S. system of filing paper returns requires a taxpayer to wait several weeks before receiving a refund check. Ochoa and Pulido face a maximum sentence of ten years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000 for the conspiracy convictions and five years imprisonment for each conviction of assisting in the filing of a false claim. Sentencing is set for Oct. 19, and Oct. 26, for Pulido and Ochoa, respectively, before Wanger. The case is the result of an extensive and ongoing investigation of electronic filing fraud by special agents of the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division, and was prosecuted by Department of Justice Tax Division Trial Attorneys Eric C. Lisann and Floyd J. Miller. It is the first prosecution of this type of crime in this judicial district, and is one of only a very few such cases that have gone to trial anywhere in the United States since the inception of the Internal Revenue Service's electronic filing system. Acting Assistant Attorney General James Bruton stated, "This conviction serves as notice that the federal government is committed to early detection and prosecution of electronic filing schemes. Blatant abuse of the Internal Revenue Service's computerized refund program will not be tolerated." According to Rick Speier, chief of the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division in San Jose and Fresno, "as the use of electronic filing increases, the Internal Revenue Service will continue to be vigilant in identifying electronic filing schemes organized by unscrupulousindividuals who seek to exploit the system for criminal purposes." ------------------------------ From: Rita Marie Rouvalis Subject: File 7--EFF Receives Dvorak/Zoom Award Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253