Clackamas Man Sentenced to Four Years in Prison for Filing False Claims for $1.9 Million in Fraudulent Federal Income Tax Refunds

PORTLAND, Ore. – U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon sentenced defendant Miles J. Julison to four years in federal prison and three years of post-release supervision for two counts of filing false claims against the United States.  The sentencing hearing on Wednesday, November 19th followed a five-day trial in August when a Portland jury convicted Julison of the charges. The evidence at trial established that Julison, a 41-year-old former real estate investor, had filed tax returns for the years 2007 and 2008 fraudulently claiming that he was due refunds for tax overpayments totaling nearly $2 million.  In fact, he had paid no federal income taxes at all in those years.  Julison had also helped another man file his own fraudulent claim for more than $480,000.

U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall commended the sentence, “It is a serious sentence for a serious crime.  As Judge Simon noted, Miles Julison stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from his neighbors, honest and hardworking taxpayers.  He tried to steal even more and helped others do the same; the severity of the sentence properly reflects the extent of his criminal conduct.”

The evidence at trial established that Julison falsely reported on his 2007 tax return that he had earned more than half a million dollars that year and that almost all of it had been withheld for taxes.  He then fraudulently claimed he was due a tax refund of $411,773.00.  The IRS issued him a check for that amount two weeks later.  In January 2009, Julison falsely reported on his tax return that he had earned more than $2.3 million in 2008, and that all but $815 of that total had been withheld for taxes.  He fraudulently claimed a tax refund of more than $1.5 million.  By then, however, Julison was already under criminal investigation, and the refund was never issued.

Julison used the refund he obtained from his 2007 return to purchase, among other things, a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz sedan, to pay off his home mortgage, and to make payments on a 23-foot ski boat, a Toyota Sequoia SUV , two Kawasaki wave runners, and two Polaris snowmobiles.  Judge Simon ordered Julison to pay $411,773 in restitution to the IRS for that refund.

This case was investigated by IRS, Criminal Investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Seth D. Uram and Ryan W. Bounds prosecuted the case.