California Resident Pleads Guilty in Scheme to Defraud the United States of Over $9 Million

Jacqueline Ramos, aka Jackie Acosta, of Salinas, California, pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of conspiring to submit false claims for income tax refunds and two counts of bank fraud, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and United States Attorney Alex G. Tse of the Northern District of California.

According to documents and information provided to the court, Ramos conspired with others to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by filing false tax returns to obtain fraudulent refund checks, and then depositing the checks into bank accounts under their control.  The false returns included fake income, bogus dependents, and sham education expenses. By filing these fraudulent returns, Ramos and her co-conspirators are alleged to have stolen more than $9 million in tax refunds. Two of those co-conspirators, Ana Bajo, aka Ana Covarrubias, and Norma Morfin, aka Norma Mandujano, pleaded guilty earlier this year to related tax charges.

U.S. District Court Judge Lucy H. Koh scheduled sentencing for March 20, 2019.  Ramos faces a maximum sentence of ten years in prison for the conspiracy count and thirty years for each of the bank fraud counts, in addition to a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and United States Attorney Tse commended the IRS special agents who investigated this case, as well as the Department of Justice attorneys who are handling it, Assistant United States Attorney Michael G. Pitman and Trial Attorney Christopher Magnani.