Through the roof; shell game; delinquent debts; and other highlights of recent tax cases.
Anchorage, Alaska: Dr. Claribel Tan, 61, was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for executing a $12.5 million health care fraud scheme and evading over $4 million in taxes on the profits of a 15-year scheme. Her husband and co-defendant, Daniel Tan, 70, was sentenced to three years of probation, with two years to be served in home confinement, for his role in the fraudulent scheme.
Since 2005, the Tans operated a rheumatology medical clinic in Anchorage. Dr. Tan specialized in the treatment of autoimmune and musculoskeletal diseases and prescribed injectable medications to treat those conditions. Her husband performed office and management work for the clinic. As part of their scheme, the Tans deceived their patients about the kinds and doses of medications Dr. Tan administered through injections in the office, and fraudulently billed health insurance plans for reimbursement of medications that the Tans did not purchase or administer to patients.
The Tans' fraud scheme created significant health risks to the patients and caused a loss of over $12.5 to more than 10 insurance plans.
The Tans also created false tax records to conceal the health care fraud scheme. From 2018 to 2021, the Tans willfully failed to file tax returns for the clinic. The Tans' tax fraud scheme caused a loss of over $4.2 million to the IRS.
In November 2025, the Tans both pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud and one count of tax evasion.
Dr. Tan was ordered to serve three years of supervised release following the completion of her custodial sentence, as well as the scheduling of a separate hearing to determine restitution. As part of their plea agreements, the Tans agreed to forfeit the seized funds to the U.S. The Tans also submitted a $6.3 million payment towards their future restitution judgment. They further paid the U.S. an additional $1.8 million to settle civil claims under the False Claims Act arising from the health care fraud scheme. Dr. Tan has also surrendered her medical license.
Austin, Texas: Subhala Suresh, a tax preparer, pleaded guilty to filing false federal tax returns on behalf of clients.
From approximately January 2019 to October 2022, Suresh worked at a tax preparation firm where she prepared false federal tax returns for clients that included false expenses designed to reduce the taxes her clients owed to the IRS. As a result, Suresh's clients received refunds to which they were not entitled. Based on the false tax returns she filed, Suresh admitted to causing a tax loss to the United States between $250,000 and $550,000.
Suresh pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and assisting the filing of a false tax return. She faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison as well as a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.
This plea follows recent guilty pleas of
All four individuals will be sentenced at a later date.
Hartford, Connecticut: A Woodbridge man pleaded guilty to tax evasion after falsifying over $6 million of business-related transactions.
Anthony Delmaro, 48, has owned and operated commercial roofing businesses in Connecticut, most frequently doing business as "Kings Roofing."
From 2012 to 2022, Kings Roofing earned about $20.9 million in customer receipts, but Delmaro paid his workers in cash and never filed income or payroll tax returns for himself or the business.
Delmaro and others would cash checks from customers instead of depositing them into bank accounts. Delmaro provided the check cashers with addresses associated with UPS mailboxes rather than his home address.
Delmaro was sentenced to 15 months in prison and two years of supervised release for tax evasion. He is required to perform 200 hours of community service while on supervised release.
Delmaro was also ordered to pay restitution of $1,129,669 to the IRS, and $578,259 to the Connecticut Medicaid program.
Salem, Oregon: Michael Richard Pfohl of Salem, Oregon, pleaded guilty to three counts of tax evasion.
Pfohl, a restaurant owner, failed to file quarterly tax reports and remit employee contributions, and refused to work with the Oregon Department of Revenue to pay down his delinquent debts.
The plea agreement includes a sentence of supervised probation for 48 months, 80 hours of community service and a criminal fine of $6,000.
Orlando, Florida: A Honduran national pleaded guilty to conspiring with others as part of a years-long off-the-books payroll scheme that caused more than $38 million in losses to the U.S. government.
Mario Lisandro Flores Moradel operated an illegal, off-the-books cash payroll system for construction workers to avoid paying employment taxes to the IRS and to defraud workers' compensation insurance companies.
From 2015 to 2022, Flores and his co-conspirators used a series of shell companies to run an unlicensed check cashing and cash courier service business. These businesses cashed approximately $89 million in checks from subcontractors in the construction industry, charging them a percentage of the dollar amount of the checks they cashed as a fee for this service. Flores admitted to causing a tax loss to the United States of more than $9.4 million.
Flores pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of conspiracy to operate unlicensed money transmitting businesses. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 24. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each count of conspiracy.
Flores' co-conspirators, Michael Mayorga, Francisco Alvarez, Iris Villafranca and Osman Zapata, previously pleaded guilty for their roles in the scheme.
Lathrop, California: Amy Evangelista, 60, was sentenced to two counts of aiding or assisting in the preparation or presentation of a false or fraudulent tax return.
Evangelista created fake companies and business expenses that resulted in $1.23 million in fraudulent tax refunds. She helped file approximately 1,087 fraudulent income tax returns that contained false Schedule C information, which resulted in a loss of $1,234,430 for the IRS.
From 2017-2020, Evangelista falsified more than 1,000 of her clients' tax returns to increase the refund amounts without her clients' knowledge or consent.
Evangelista was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defrauding the IRS of more than $1.2 million.
She was ordered to pay restitution to the IRS.
Scranton, Pennsylvania: Karen McGinnis, 46, of Mountain Top, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 20 months in prison following her conviction for embezzling public funds.
From March 2023 to January 2025, McGinnis was the tax collector for Fairview Township, responsible for collecting property taxes from township residents. During that timeframe, McGinnis embezzled more than $400,000 in property taxes and converted them to her own personal use by writing checks to herself from the tax collector bank accounts she maintained and controlled.
McGinnis was sentenced to three years of supervised release following her term of imprisonment and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $367,088.35 to the victims of her crime. McGinnis previously paid approximately $40,000 back into the tax collector bank accounts prior to her crime being discovered.
