U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida issued the following announcement on Jan. 28.
Ariana Fajardo Orshan, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Michael J. De Palma, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI); and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office announced that on January 23, 2020, a defendant involved in a tax refund fraud scheme was sentenced in the Southern District of Florida. The scheme involved the filing of fraudulent income tax returns containing false W-2Gs, claiming false gambling winnings, withholdings, and losses, and seeking large-dollar tax refunds.
Eldrick Wendell Wooding, Sr., 64, of Opa Locka, Florida, received a prison term of 46 months, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay joint and several restitution of $107,421 to the IRS. According to court documents, from October 2011 through April 2013, Wooding conspired with Freddie Howard to defraud the United States by preparing and submitting false and fraudulent federal tax returns and other tax-related documents to the lRS in order to induce the IRS to disburse tax refunds to which he was not entitled. In October 2019, a jury found Wooding guilty of conspiracy to defraud the United States. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daya Nathan and Eli Rubin.
Six other defendants were previously sentenced in the Southern District of Florida in relation to filing fraudulent income tax returns containing false gambling information. In general, these fraudulent returns included a fake Form W-2G claiming gross gambling winnings and federal tax withholdings on the winnings. The returns also claimed false gambling losses, which were used to offset the purported income from gambling winnings, thereby generating a claimed refund. The IRS determined the federal income tax returns were false and the claimed gambling winnings, withholdings, and losses were fraudulent. The fraudulent misrepresentations on the tax returns resulted in a loss to the IRS.
On August 28, 2018, Anthony Dwight Charles Box, 57, of Plantation, Florida, was sentenced to 36 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay restitution of $988,175 to the IRS.
On May 1, 2019, Gerald Jerome Spate, 50, of Miramar, Florida, was sentenced to 24 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay joint and several restitution of $421,684.50 to the IRS.
On April 26, 2019, Jean Daniel Julien, 38, of Lauderhill, Florida, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay joint and several restitution of $1,547,197 to the IRS.
On May 15, 2019, Ralph Dorsainvil, 63, of Boca Raton, Florida, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay joint and several restitution of $335,466.72 to the IRS.
On November 20, 2019, David Sage, a/k/a “Nima Nafei,” 40, of Las Vegas, Nevada, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay joint and several restitution of $278,149 to the IRS.
On July 24, 2019, Ron Pinke Leonard, 53, of West Palm Beach, Florida, was sentenced to four years of probation, and was ordered to pay joint and several restitution of $52,542.85 to the IRS.
These other cases were prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daya Nathan.
U.S. Attorney Fajardo Orshan commended the investigative efforts of the IRS-CI and the FBI in this matter.
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 at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
Original source can be found here.
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