Cooper City Resident Sentenced For Tax Refund Fraud

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, José A. Gonzalez, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CID), and Paula Reid, Special Agent in Charge, United States Secret Service (USSS), announced today’s sentencing of defendant David Forbes, 43, of Cooper City, Florida, on charges of theft of government monies resulting from his participation in a stolen identity tax refund scheme. At today’s hearing, U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra sentenced Forbes to 48 months in prison. In addition, Forbes was sentenced to three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $372,342.41.

Forbes had previously pled guilty to the theft of government funds in connection with an identity theft tax refund scheme in which the defendant converted more than $1,574,791.83 in tax refunds and had those amounts deposited into his personal and corporate bank accounts. These tax refund payments had been obtained through the filing of false tax returns using stolen personal identification information of unwitting victims. During the investigation and prosecution, defendant Forbes consented to the government’s seizure of $888,399.08. In addition, other bank accounts were identified and an additional $313,550.00 was frozen and returned to the government.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the IRS-CID and Secret Service. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Laurie Rucoba.

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 http://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 http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.