PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For Information, Contact Public Affairs Thursday, August 19, 2004 Channing Phillips (202) 514-6933      District man sentenced and ordered to pay $46,146 in restitution for fraudulently seeking tax refunds   Washington, D.C. - United States Attorney Kenneth L. Wainstein and Special Agent in Charge Rick A. Raven, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, announced that William Powers, 70, of the 5900 block of 8th Street, N.W., was sentenced today by Judge John D. Bates of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to seven months of home detention and ordered to pay $46,146 in restitution in connection with Powers's June 2004 guilty plea in a false claims case. According to the government's evidence, beginning in January 2001, and continuing through February 2003, Powers submitted to the Internal Revenue Service, via electronic filing, a total of six tax returns in his name and in the name of his then-seven-year-old granddaughter. Each of the returns, which were for the tax years 2000, 2001, and 2002, contained false income information that Powers had made up, and sought the direct deposit of substantial refunds into bank accounts controlled by Powers. In sum, Powers sought $55,121 in refunds. He received more than $46,000 in fraudulent refunds as part of his scheme. In announcing today's sentence, United States Attorney Wainstein and Special Agent in Charge Raven commended the investigative efforts of Special Agent Greg Ford of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division. They also commended the work of Legal Assistant Teesha Tobias and Assistant United States Attorneys Lisa Monaco and Elana Tyrangiel, who prosecuted the case.