The ring used Social Security numbers and other data to obtain the money, authorities said.
NEWARK-- A 47-year-old Demarest native admitted he deposited $4.7 million in tax refund checks fraudulently obtained using the personal information of Puerto Rico residents, the office of U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said in a statement Thursday.
Roberto Diaz, now of Miami, was part of a ring that used birth dates and Social Security numbers to fill out 1040 tax forms in such a way as to secure refunds. The U.S. Treasury Department was then directed to deliver the funds to locations in their control or to which they had access.
Duo allegedly filed fake returns, got real refunds
Diaz admitted during a plea hearing that he obtained more than $4.7 million in refunds and that he tried to bribe a mail carrier to grab refund checks destined for people whose identities had been stolen.
Diaz was one of 14 people charged in September 2012 for their alleged roles in the far-reaching, $65 million scheme, which involved 8.000 fraudulent returns and $12 million in losses to the U.S. government, authorities said. The scheme was uncovered when authorities learned that the multitude of returns were associated with just a handful of individual computer IP addresses.
Diaz, who admitted to one count of conspiracy to commit theft of government funds, one count of theft of government funds and a count of aggravated identity theft, is facing up to 17 years in prison and a $500,000 fine when he's sentenced in January 2017.
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