Audio Transcript

Mollie Halpern: It’s a case involving the fraud, corruption, and abuse of power of a former Washington, D.C. tax examiner.

Eric S. Lurie: She took in excess of $470,000. She used it primarily just for day-to-day expenses and shopping trips.

Halpern: I’m Mollie Halpern of the FBI, and this is Gotcha, the Bureau’s closed case of the week.

Mary Ayers-Zander had the power to issue tax refunds into taxpayer accounts. Instead, she funneled taxpayer money into her own personal banking accounts. Case agent Eric Lurie…

Eric S. Lurie: She was taking this money directly from the D.C. government, passing it through these accounts but into her own bank account.

Halpern: Ayers-Zander carried out the fraud for years until an audit detected an abnormality. The chief financial officer’s Office of Integrity and Oversight went to the FBI and its law enforcement partners for help.

Lurie: We served a lot of subpoenas to financial institutions, which backed up what we were learning in our interviews and what we were able to learn from the actual tax records.

Halpern: Ayers-Zander was sentenced to 30 months in prison for wire fraud. She also must pay restitution.