PHOENIX – On November 9, 2016, after a three day trial, a U.S. District Court jury in Phoenix convicted Paula Anthony on all fourteen charges of the indictment. Anthony was indicted in January on conspiracy to defraud, mail fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Paula Anthony was a registered tax preparer with the Internal Revenue Service, owned and operated a tax preparation business known as FYI Business Services from her home in Phoenix, Arizona. Beginning in 2013, and continuing for at least two years, Anthony and another individual conspired together and with others, to fraudulently obtain tax refunds from income tax returns filed in the names of individuals whose identities had been stolen. The fraudulent income tax returns were filed in the names of real taxpayers. The fraudulent returns contained the names and personally identifying information of the taxpayers along with fabricated reported wages, but inflated the federal tax withholdings listed in order to generate a large tax refund.
The investigation of stolen identity refund fraud continues to be one of our agency’s top priorities. Not only did the defendant and her co-conspirators cause financial harm to the government, they victimized real taxpayers by stealing their identities” stated IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Ismael Nevarez, Jr.
Sentencing is scheduled for February 13, 2017. The investigation in this case was conducted by Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation.
