Miami-Dade County Resident Pled Guilty to Filing False Refund Claims with the IRS

A Miami-Dade County resident pled guilty to filing false refund claims with the Internal Revenue Service.

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Kelly R. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), made the announcement.

Mavys Galvez, 32, of Miami, Florida, pled guilty to one count of making a false, fictitious, and fraudulent claim against the United States, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 287.

According to court documents, Galvez filed false 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 amended federal income tax returns with the IRS claiming fraudulent refunds. In the returns, Galvez falsely asserted that she and her husband were owed millions of dollars in income from various entities, and that those entities had withheld the money as federal income tax paid to the IRS.  In fact, the entities owed no such income to Galvez or her husband, and withheld no such taxes on their behalf.  Specifically, Galvez filed a 2006 amended tax return with her husband claiming a tax refund of $1,049,270 based in large part on claimed income and $810,224 of tax withheld by a bank.  The tax return also attached a Form 1099-OID purportedly from the bank reflecting those totals, as well as 1099-OID forms from other entities. The filed 1099-OID forms were false.

Court documents indicate that Galvez had previously filed legitimate tax returns for tax years 2006 through 2009, knew that she and her husband had not received the income from the various entities reported on the fraudulent returns, knew that the taxes claimed had not been withheld, and knew that the 1099-OID forms were false.  The total amount of fraudulent refunds claimed by Galvez for tax years 2006 through 2009 is $3,424,834.

Mavys Galvez is scheduled to be sentenced on September 17, 2015 at 1:30 p.m. before United States District Judge William P. Dimitrouleas.  At sentencing, the defendant faces a maximum of five years of imprisonment.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of IRS-CI.  This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. Gonsoulin.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. 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 on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.