Tax Service Business Owner Sentenced to 4 ½ Years in Prison for Stolen Identity Tax Refund Fraud Scheme

A tax service business owner was sentenced to 4 ½ years in prison for his participation in a stolen identity tax refund fraud scheme. 

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, Kelly R. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), and Robert C. Hutchinson, Acting Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI), Miami Field Office, made the announcement.

Johny Wolf Jasmin, 32, of Boca Raton, was sentenced to 54 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release as to Count 1 and one year of supervised release as to Count 10, and was ordered to pay joint and several restitution in the amount of $ 241,429. Jasmin previously pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the government with respect to claims, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 286, and one count of aggravated identity theft in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1028A and 2.

According to court documents, Jasmin owned and operated a tax service business called Wolf Vision, Inc. located in Hollywood, Florida.  During the course of the investigation, law enforcement learned three separate Electronic Filing Identification Numbers (EFINs) were used to file false and fraudulent tax returns from Jasmin’s business.  One of those EFINs was assigned to co-defendant Carneisha Patrice Mitchell, 31, of Miami.  Based upon this information, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Jasmin’s business and recovered computers, thumb drives, prepaid debit cards, and numerous documents that contained over 2,100 names, dates of birth, and social security numbers that belonged to living and deceased individuals.

In fact, a review of Jasmin’s personal income tax for the 2014 tax year showed that Jasmin obtained the name, date of birth and social security number of a child who had passed away and later used that information to fraudulently claim the deceased child as one of his dependents. 

In addition, law enforcement learned that an IRS treasury tax refund check in the name of a deceased individual was deposited into Mitchell’s personal checking account.  Thereafter, Mitchell used the money from the IRS treasury check for her personal use. 

As a result of Jasmin and his co-conspirator’s fraudulent conduct, over 220 false and fraudulent federal income tax returns were filed with the IRS using stolen personal identifying information of living and deceased individuals.  Further, over $1.5 million in tax refunds were sought from the false and fraudulent income tax returns filed from Jasmin’s tax business.

Co-defendant Mitchell was sentenced to three years of probation, and was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $ 9,437. The defendant previously pled guilty to one count of theft of government funds, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 641 and 2.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of FBI, IRS-CI and ICE-HSI.  This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurice A. Johnson.  

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov