A Phenix City, Alabama, resident pleaded guilty today in the
Middle District of Alabama to conspiracy and aggravated identity theft for her
role in a multimillion-dollar stolen identity tax refund fraud (SIRF) scheme,
Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice
Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney George L. Beck Jr. of the Middle
District of Alabama announced.
According to court documents, between 2011 and June 2014,
Talashia Hinton, also known as LayLay and LaLa, participated in a large-scale
stolen identity tax refund conspiracy.
The indictment alleges that the co-conspirators filed more than 3,000
false tax returns for 2012 and 2013 that falsely claimed more than $7.5 million
in federal income tax refunds from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Hinton worked with Keisha Lanier, who
supplied her with IRS electronic filing identification numbers in the names of
sham tax businesses and stolen identities that included personal information so
that Hinton could prepare and file false tax returns to claim refunds using the
stolen identities. At the direction of
Lanier, Hinton also obtained identities from Tamika Floyd, who stole names from
databases maintained by the state of Alabama.
The false returns directed the IRS to pay the refunds by issuing U.S.
Treasury checks and direct deposits onto prepaid debit cards.
Tamika Floyd was sentenced to serve 87 months in prison on
May 19. Lanier is scheduled to be
sentenced on Aug. 24 and other defendants involved in the scheme were sentenced
on Aug. 7. A sentencing date for Hinton
has not been scheduled.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo and U.S. Attorney
Beck Jr. commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who
investigated the case, and Trial Attorneys Michael C. Boteler and Gregory P.
Bailey of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Ross of the
Middle District of Alabama, who are prosecuting the case.
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