GUAM resident Immaculata Sewell pleaded guilty in the District Court of Guam on Thursday, May 31 to nine counts of aiding and assisting in the filing of false and fraudulent federal income tax returns, and to two counts of making and subscribing to a false tax return, the Office of U.S. Attorney Alicia Limtiaco announced.
From March 2009 to August 2011, Sewell filed 574 U.S. individual and joint federal income tax returns for Guam residents, including her own returns for tax years 2008 through 2010 which contained false information, including the use of a false U.S address.
“Most of the returns claimed the Earned Income Credit (EIC) and additional Child Tax Credit (CTC), which falsely inflated the amount of the tax refunds,” a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated. “Sewell knew that none of the tax returns actually entitled her and any of the other Guam resident taxpayers to claim EIC, CTC and receive an IRS refund.”
The IRS Criminal Investigation discovered that Sewell listed her sister’s post office box address or her sister’s residential address in Spokane, Wash. for all of the tax refunds in the scheme.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the tax refunds ranged from amounts as low as $125 to as high as $10,650 per taxpayer. The amount of tax loss to the United States is approximately $2,031,607.
Sewell could face a maximum sentence of up to three years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the 11 counts.
U.S. Attorney Limtiaco stated: “People who create schemes to defraud the IRS run the risk of prosecution and the IRS-Criminal Investigation with the support of the United States Attorney’s Office will continue to shut down fraudulent IRS tax schemes and hold promoters of these schemes accountable for their actions.”
Sewell is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 20.
