Los Angeles- 8 January 2012 – LawFuel.com – IRS News – Aaron Jamaal Gilmore, 29, of South Los Angeles, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to filing false claims for tax refunds with the IRS before Judge Margaret M. Morrow today.
According to court documents, between June 2007 and April 2009, Gilmore along with co-conspirators, Tiffani Hess, Daniel Blake Harris, and others participated in a scheme to defraud the United States by filing false claims in a fraudulent tax refund scheme. Gilmore, Hess and others prepared false tax returns, claiming that federal taxes had been withheld in amounts exceeding the amounts of taxes owed, in order to generate a false tax refund. Gilmore and Hess deposited fraudulently obtained tax refund checks into bank accounts controlled by Gilmore, Hess, and other co-conspirators.
According to the plea agreement, on April 14, 2008, Gilmore and his co-conspirator Tiffani Hess knowingly electronically filed a Form 1040 with the IRS in the name of another co-conspirator, whom Gilmore recruited in order to file false claims. The tax return falsely stated that during 2007 the co-conspirator’s total income was $28,803 and the co-conspirator had $57,961 in federal income tax withheld. The tax return also falsely claimed a tax refund of $51,578.
Gilmore admitted he knew the statements on the false tax return were fraudulent. As a result of the false claims, the IRS wired a tax refund of $51,578 to a bank account controlled by the co-conspirator. The co-conspirator then withdrew $46,000 in the form of a cashier’s check from the bank account and gave the cashier’s check to Gilmore, who deposited the cashier’s check into a bank account in his control.
Gilmore along with his conspirators filed false tax refunds seeking between $200,000 and $400,000 in refunds in which they were not entitled.
On May 24, 2012, Tiffani Hess was sentenced to 24 months imprisonment, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution in the total amount $235,977.75 to victims. On October 24, 2011, Daniel Blake Harris was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution in the total amount of $89,833.85 to victims.
At sentencing, Aaron Jamaal Gilmore faces a maximum sentence of ten years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000 or twice the gain or loss as a result of his offense. Sentencing is scheduled April 15, 2013 before Judge Margaret M. Morrow.
The investigation of Aaron Jamaal Gilmore is being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
United States Attorney’s Office contact:
Dorothy Kim, Assistant United States Attorney
213-894-3779
