North Carolina Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy for Filing False Claims for Tax Refunds

A Raleigh, North Carolina, man pleaded guilty today in the U.S. District Court in Raleigh to conspiring to file false claims for tax refunds, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Thomas G. Walker of the Eastern District of North Carolina. 

According to court documents and statements in court, from 2010 through at least February 2014, Rodney Wright and others conspired to prepare and file false income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  Wright obtained the personal identification information of taxpayers and used this information to file false federal income tax returns, which included fictitious information in order to generate false and fraudulent claims for tax refunds.  Wright and others directed the IRS to deposit tax refunds into bank accounts of the taxpayers listed on the tax returns or into accounts controlled by Wright and others involved in the conspiracy. 

Wright faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the conspiracy charge.  He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 29. 

Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo and U.S. Attorney Walker commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Menzer of the Eastern District of North Carolina and Trial Attorneys Lauren Castaldi and Rebecca Perlmutter of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case.