Iris Hondermann, owner of Silver State Tax & Multiservices LLC in Las Vegas, was sentenced Wednesday to 30 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States by filing false tax returns with the IRS and diverting fraudulent refunds to herself and a codefendant.
Between 2017 and 2021, Hondermann and her codefendant prepared tax returns containing deliberate false items, including fabricated business profits and losses, COVID-19 sick and family leave credits, and residential energy credits. The pair submitted these returns to the IRS seeking more than $5 million in refunds their clients were not entitled to receive. They diverted more than $1.1 million of the fraudulent refunds to bank accounts they controlled.
Hondermann pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to defraud the United States. Her codefendant, described in court documents as an individual close to Hondermann who worked at the business, admitted to filing false tax returns as part of the same scheme and awaits sentencing.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Sigal Chattah for the District of Nevada stated in a press release that “the deliberate falsification of tax records and the theft of funds are severe violations of public trust and federal law.” Chattah added that the office “remains committed to aggressively investigating and prosecuting those who use deceit to enrich themselves at the expense of taxpayers and honest institutions.”
Acting Special Agent in Charge Scott Brown of the IRS Criminal Investigation Phoenix Field Office characterized the scheme as “a substantial theft from the U.S. Treasury and, ultimately, from every honest taxpayer.” Brown noted that “by inserting false information into client tax returns and taking a share of the fraudulent refunds, Hondermann and her codefendant defrauded the government of millions for personal benefit.”
The IRS Criminal Investigation unit investigated the case. Trial Attorneys Thomas W. Flynn and Stuart A. Wexler of the Criminal Division’s Tax Section prosecuted the case. The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division.
Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/las-vegas-woman-sentenced-prison-5m-refund-fraud-scheme
Featured image: U.S. Department of Justice (public domain)
