Norfolk Man Indicted in Tax Fraud Scheme

NORFOLK, Va. – Ronald Chisholm, 53, of Norfolk, was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that he conspired to commit mail fraud, committed mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, and false claims in connection with a scheme to defraud the Internal Revenue Service.    

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Thomas J. Kelly, Special Agent in Charge, Washington, D.C. Field Office, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations, made the announcement.

Chisholm faces a maximum penalty of 144 years in prison if convicted of all counts.  The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The indictment alleges Chisholm’s scheme began in 2010.  Chisholm recruited an employee of a local check cashing business to cash over $2 million in U.S. Treasury checks.  The employee of the check cashing business was paid $200 per check to cash the treasury checks in violation of the company’s policies.  Chisholm, along with unidentified co-conspirators stole the personal identifying information of numerous people and filed at least 698 fraudulent income tax returns.  As a result of these false returns, Chisholm and his co-conspirators received a total of $2,273,119.52 in fraudulent income tax refunds.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service.  Assistant United States Attorney Joseph L. Kosky is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

Criminal indictments are only charges and not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:14-cr-132.