Cooper City Resident Pleads Guilty in Stolen Tax Refund Scheme
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 that defendant David Forbes, 43, a resident of Cooper City, Florida, pled guilty today to five separate counts of theft of government monies, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 641.
Sentencing is scheduled for January 18, 2013 at 10:30 am before U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra. At sentencing, the defendant faces a maximum term of imprisonment of ten years, to be followed by a term of supervised release of not more than three (3) years for each count, and mandatory restitution.
According to court documents, IRS tax refund payments totaling $1,574,791.83 were deposited into Forbes’ personal and corporate bank account. 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, Ally Bank froze and returned an additional $98,255.44 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.
