Oakland Resident Sentenced To 30 Months In Tax Fraud Scheme

OAKLAND – Jonathan Davis was sentenced today to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $178,426 for his involvement in a tax fraud scheme, United States Attorney Melinda Haag and Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge José M. Martinez announced.

Davis, 33, of Oakland, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on April 18, 2014. According to the plea agreement, Davis devised a scheme to obtain money by preparing and filing false federal income tax returns in the names of other people. In order to carry out this scheme, Davis had friends obtain names, birthdates, and social security numbers of people who did not authorize the use of that information on the filed tax returns. Davis opened bank accounts in the names of these victims and linked those accounts to debit cards for the purpose of receiving the fraudulent tax refunds. Davis directed the banks to mail the debit cards to himself or his friends and paid his friends up to $200 for addresses that he could use for bank accounts, debit cards, and tax returns. During 2011 and 2012, Davis caused 111 materially false federal income tax returns to be electronically filed. On those 111 returns, Davis falsely claimed refunds of $484,546, and successfully obtained $178,426 from the IRS.

Davis was indicted on August 22, 2013. He was charged with 11 counts of wire fraud and 11 counts of aggravated identity theft.

The sentence was handed down by the Honorable Jon S. Tigar, United States District Court Judge, following a guilty plea on one count in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 1343. Judge Tigar also sentenced the defendant to a five-year period of supervised release. The defendant was ordered to surrender on Nov. 3, 2014.

Assistant United States Attorney Thomas Moore is prosecuting the case. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the IRS, Criminal Investigation.

(Davis indictment )