BIRMINGHAM—A federal judge today sentenced a Madison woman to 18 months in prison for a scheme to obtain fraudulent tax refunds, including one for $558,857, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance, IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Veronica Hyman-Pillot and FBI Special Agent in Charge Roger C. Stanton.
U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor sentenced ANGELIQUE B. HARRIS, 49, on one count each of theft of government property and money laundering as part of the tax-refund scheme. Harris pleaded guilty to the charges in July. She must pay $658,978 in restitution to the IRS and serve three years of supervised release after completing her prison sentence. Through a related civil action, Harris already has forfeited a 2013 Lexus ES350 luxury automobile worth about $45,000 that she bought with some of the criminal proceeds.
Harris, with the aid of others who were not named in the 2014 indictment against her, stole U.S. Treasury refunds between February 2013 and February 2014, according to her guilty plea. She also admitted to money laundering for using proceeds of a fraudulent October 2013 federal income tax refund of $558,857 to purchase the luxury Lexus from a Huntsville dealership. The IRS paid the refund on a tax return fraudulently filed in the name of a couple, identified in court documents as “P. and A.O.” The refund was deposited into an account Harris opened at a Huntsville bank.
The IRS and FBI investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell E. Penfield prosecuted.
MEDIA RELEASE/FBI
