Sacramento County Residents Indicted For Tax Refund Fraud Scheme

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A federal grand jury returned an eight-count indictment today against Sergey Shchirskiy, 38, of Carmichael, and Vladislav Atamanyuk, 27, of Rancho Cordova, charging them with conspiracy to defraud the United States and aggravated identity theft, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

According to court documents, the defendants conspired to file multiple fraudulent tax returns using other people’s identities. The returns falsely claimed refunds based on fraudulently reported income and the Earned Income Tax Credit. The defendants caused the fraudulent refunds to be directly deposited into bank accounts that they controlled.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Michele Beckwith is prosecuting the case.

If convicted, the defendants face a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison for the conspiracy, and a mandatory two years in prison for identity theft, as well as a $250,000 fine. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

The charges are only allegations; the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.