Man sentenced to decade in prison for swindling $ 120 million from IRS

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07 Nov 2012

by admin

A criminal mastermind who stole identities of the deceased people to swindle the Internal Revenue Service’s in excess of $ 120 million was sent to prison for a decade on Wednesday.

Andrew J Watts, a Permanent Resident but a Barbados national lived a lavish life renting apartments in upscale Beverly Hills, Manhattan and Los Angeles. According to prosecutors he used $ 1.6 million to live a life of leisure.
Watts jetted between New York and Los Angeles frequently, gambled at high-rolling casinos, purchased sports cars and generously gave away money to his girl-friend.
According to court documents, between 2007 and 2011, Watts filed false federal income tax returns in the names of deceased taxpayers seeking fraudulent refunds.   Watts either signed the name of the deceased taxpayer to the tax return, or would falsely list himself as the deceased taxpayer’s representative.   As part of the scheme, Watts filed over 470 false federal income tax returns, claiming fraudulent refunds in excess of $120 million, and the IRS issued refunds in excess of $10 million.  Watts directed the IRS to either mail the refund checks to an address he controlled or to electronically deposit the refund into a bank account under his control.
The department of justice said Watts used numerous names of the dead people to file for refunds from the IRS.
“The U.S. attorney’s office said Watts used names and Social Security numbers of dead taxpayers to file hundreds of false returns between 2007 and 2011. He had the refunds mailed to addresses he controlled and electronically deposited into bank accounts, including an address and account in Chicago”, the departments said in the news statement.