Two New York Residents Plead Guilty in Separate Stolen Identity Refund Fraud Schemes

Two Queens, New York, residents pleaded guilty today for their roles in separate stolen identity refund fraud schemes, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.   

Kishore Jattan, 44, pleaded guilty to identity theft.  According to the plea agreement and documents filed with the court, from April 2012 through June 2012, Jattan stole student IDs from packages he delivered for a university located in New York and sold the stolen IDs to other individuals who used the IDs to file fraudulent tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  Jattan admitted that he caused a tax loss of between $250,000 and $550,000. 

Sentencing is scheduled for March 21, 2018 before U.S. District Court Judge Edward R. Korman.  Jattan faces a statutory maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.  He also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties. 

In a separate scheme, Michael Bratton, 51, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States.  According to the plea agreement and documents filed with the court, from January 2011 through June 2012, Bratton purchased stolen IDs, which he provided to a co-conspirator for the purpose of filing fraudulent tax returns with the IRS.  Bratton admitted to causing a tax loss of more than $40,000. 

Sentencing is scheduled for March 21, 2018 before U.S. District Court Judge Edward R. Korman. Bratton faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years for conspiring to defraud the United States.  He also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties. 

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg thanked special agents of IRS Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, who conducted the investigations, and Trial Attorneys Mark Kotila and Ann M. Cherry of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting these cases.   

Additional information about the Tax Division’s enforcement efforts can be found on the division’s website.