Baltimore Man Sentenced in Scheme to File False Tax Returns On Behalf of State Prisoners

Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge William M. Nickerson sentenced Giacumo Marzano, age 66, of Baltimore, Maryland, today to 25 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for conspiracy to defraud the United States and aggravated identity theft, in connection with a scheme to file false income tax returns on behalf of inmates from the Maryland Department of Corrections and other prisons, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. Judge Nickerson also ordered Marzano to pay restitution of $200,000.

According to the plea agreement, Marzano had contact with inmates who were housed in Maryland state prisons. Marzano sent the inmates blank federal tax returns and they mailed back the completed forms, containing false information. Marzano mailed the fraudulent tax returns to the IRS and received the fraudulent tax refund checks. He worked with other co-conspirators to mail, receive and deposit tax refunds obtained through the scheme. Many of the refund checks were mailed to a special post office box that Marzano opened using an alias, “DeeCarlo.” Although the entire tax loss associated with this scheme was $365,599.41, the loss attributable to Marzano’s participation was approximately $200,000.

In addition to the tax fraud scheme, Marzano used and produced false social security cards, Maryland driver’s licenses and fraudulent credit cards in the name of an individual who is currently residing in a medical facility, without that person’s knowledge. Marzano also used another person’s social security number. He used the name and social security number to open bank accounts and credit cards in the name of the individual whose identity he had stolen and deposited money from the tax fraud into those fraudulent bank accounts.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their investigative work. Mr. Rosenstein commended Assistant United States Attorney Kwame J. Manley, who is prosecuting the case.