PRESS RELEASE
May 29, 2008
Covington, Ky. — An Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employee based out of Covington, 56-year-old John Snyder, was charged with a misdemeanor for improperly accessing the accounts of nearly 200 celebrities including former Cincinnati Reds players and Cincinnati Bengals Head Coach Marvin Lewis. Snyder was arrested earlier today and subsequently arraigned in U.S. District Court in Covington.
“These kinds of allegations are serious, because it touches the lives of hundreds of people,” said Assistant United States Attorney Alamdar Hamdani.
The Affidavit supporting the complaint alleges that from 2003 until 2008, Snyder, an employee with the IRS since 1991, improperly accessed the IRS accounts of local sports figures and Hollywood actors such as Kevin Bacon, Alec Baldwin, Sally Field, Chevy Chase, Randy Quaid, and Tara Reid amongst others. Snyder also perused five pedestrian accounts, including one belonging to his next door neighbor.
The Affidavit also states that the IRS possesses a data base that contains sensitive, personal and tax information on all tax payers. IRS employees are permitted to access the information for business purposes only. However, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) conducted a routine analysis to look for suspicious accesses from employees. The affidavit alleges his search resulted in the discovery of numerous suspected unauthorized accesses by Snyder, who works almost exclusively with business accounts as opposed to individual tax payer accounts.
“Identifying unauthorized access to taxpayer information by IRS employees (UNAX) is one of TIGTA’s top investigative priorities,” said Timothy P. Camus, TIGTA’s Assistant Inspector General for Investigations. “TIGTA works closely with the IRS to protect the integrity of tax administration and we appreciate the assistance of the IRS in these types of investigations.”
James A. Zerhusen, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Robert Davila, Special Agent in Charge, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, jointly made the announcement today after the arrest and arraignment of John Snyder. Assistant United States Attorney Alamdar Hamdani will represent the United States.
Snyder’s next court appearance is scheduled for July 1, 2008 at 10:30 a.m. Snyder faces a maximum sentence of up to one year in imprisonment, not more than a $250,000.00 fine, or both, and up to 1 year of supervised release. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the United States Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of sentences.
The filing of a complaint is an accusation only, and that person is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.