Formerly Convicted Maryland Tax Defier Indicted for Filing False Liens Against Prosecutor and for Filing False Claims for Tax Refunds

WASHINGTON - Andrew Isaac Chance of Clinton, Md., was arrested on a four-count indictment charging him with filing a fraudulent multi-billion dollar lien against a government employee and filing false tax returns seeking $900,000 in false refunds, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. The indictment was returned on Dec. 13, 2010, by a federal grand jury sitting in Greenbelt, Md. No trial date has been set.

According to the indictment, Chance filed a false lien in the amount of $1.313 billion against the property of the Assistant U.S. Attorney who had prosecuted him for filing a false claim for a tax refund in 2007. The indictment also alleges that Chance filed three false income tax returns for estates and trusts for Andrew I. Chance Trust, for tax years 2007, 2008 and 2009. Each of these tax returns claimed a tax refund in the amount of $300,000.

In October 2007, Chance was convicted for filing a tax return for "ANDREW CHANCE TRUST" that claimed a tax refund in the amount of $306,753. On Oct. 15, 2007, Chance was sentenced to 27 months in prison. He was released from prison on June 12, 2009, and is currently on supervised release.

An indictment merely alleges that a crime has been committed, and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

If convicted, Chance faces a maximum of 25 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1 million dollars.

The case is being investigated by special agents with the IRS and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and is being prosecuted by Tax Division Trial Attorneys Jen E. Ihlo and Mark S. McDonald.