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Montgomerian stole state workers' identity info for fraud scheme
From: Erica Absetz <erica () riskbasedsecurity com>
Date: Fri, 31 May 2013 11:29:14 -0500
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20130531/NEWS01/305310009/Montgomerian-stole-state-workers-identity-info-fraud-scheme A Montgomery woman, Lea’Tice Phillips, pleaded guilty Thursday to wire fraud and aggravated identify theft for using her state job to steal identity information that was then used as part of a scheme to file more than $1.7 million in fraudulent tax refunds. The former state worker pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Montgomery to one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft for her role in a scheme that used false tax returns to defraud the Internal Revenue Service, according to the Justice Department and the IRS. She faces a sentence of between two and 22 years in prison, three years of supervised release, restitution and a maximum fine of $750,000, or twice the loss caused by the offense. Her sentencing date has not yet been set. Between October 2009 and April 2012, Phillips used her access to state databases to steal identity information and email it, using her state email account, to Antoinette Djonret and others so that they could use the stolen identity information to file false tax returns, according to the court documents. Djonret and her co-conspirators then used an “elaborate network” of individuals to launder the tax refunds by having the individuals put the funds on debit cards and then return them to the conspirators, according to the Justice Department. Some of the prepaid debit cards were in Phillips’ name, according to court records. In total, Djonret filed more than 1,000 false tax returns claiming more than $1.7 million in fraudulent tax refunds. On Feb. 8, a federal judge sentenced Djonret, who had pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy, aggravated identity theft and filing false tax returns, to 12 years in prison and ordered her to pay $1,291,658 in restitution. The case was investigated by the Criminal Investigation division of the IRS. Trial Attorneys Jason H. Poole and Michael Boteler of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama Todd Brown are prosecuting the case. _______________________________________________ Dataloss-discuss Mailing List (dataloss-discuss () datalossdb org) Archived at http://seclists.org/dataloss/ Unsubscribe at http://datalossdb.org/mailing_list Supporters: Risk Based Security (http://www.riskbasedsecurity.com/) Risk Based Security equips organizations with security intelligence, risk management services and on-demand security solutions to establish customized risk-based programs to address information security and compliance challenges. Tenable Network Security (http://www.tenable.com/) Tenable Network Security provides a suite of solutions which unify real-time vulnerability, event and compliance monitoring into a single, role-based, interface for administrators, auditors and risk managers to evaluate, communicate and report needed information for effective decision making and systems management.
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- Montgomerian stole state workers' identity info for fraud scheme Erica Absetz (May 31)