Nine individuals have been indicted in two separate conspiracies in Portland, Ore., each of them claiming more than $1 million in fraudulent tax refunds, according to the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation unit.
In the first case, Jheraun Dunlap, Ernest Bagsby, Jermaine Moore and Brandi McCall were indicted by a federal grand jury in Portland for a federal tax refund fraud scheme.
According to the 45-count indictment, Dunlap allegedly filed at least 208 false individual income tax returns using the names and Social Security numbers of others, which he either obtained directly or received from the other defendants. Dunlap allegedly used numerous addresses obtained by Bagsby, Moore and McCall to receive stored-value debit cards loaded with fraudulent income tax refunds, according to prosecutors.
In the other case, Lori Nicholson, Jasmine Mason, Tataneisha White, Shawntina Ware and Brandon Leath were indicted by a federal grand jury in Portland for a similar federal tax refund fraud scheme.
According to the 110-count indictment, Nicholson, Mason, White, Ware and Leath filed at least 227 false federal income tax returns with the IRS using the names and Social Security numbers of other individuals. They also allegedly used addresses that they could access or control to receive stored-value debit cards loaded with fraudulent income tax refunds.
