HAMMOND — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Indiana, Northern), published as received.
HAMMOND- Yvonna Lee, 36, of South Holland, Illinois, was sentenced by United States District Court Chief Judge Jon E. DeGuilio on her plea of guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, announced United States Attorney Clifford D. Johnson.
Lee was sentenced to 28 months in prison, 1 years of supervised release and ordered to pay $405, 867 in restitution to the IRS.
According to documents filed in the case, Lee engaged in a scheme between 2014 and 2017, whereby she and others filed fraudulent federal tax returns that generated improper refunds for clients who then paid them a cut of the refunds. As part of the scheme, Lee assisted in the preparation of 146 tax fraudulent tax returns resulting in a total loss of more than $400,000 to the IRS.
This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Chang with assistance from former Assistant United States Attorneys Maria Lerner, Jill Koster, and Diane Berkowitz.
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