Oregon Resident Sentenced to Prison for Role in One Million Dollar Tax Fraud Scheme

A Portland, Oregon, resident was sentenced today to more than two years in prison for her role in a fraudulent income tax refund scheme, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

Jasmine Mason, 33, was sentenced to 32 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.  According to the indictment and information disclosed in related court proceedings, Mason conspired with Tataneisha White, Shawntina Ware, Brandon Leath and another individual to file more than 227 false income tax returns falsely claiming more than $1 million in refunds.  The indictment charged all five individuals with conspiracy to file false claims and multiple counts of filing false claims, wire fraud and theft of government funds.

Mason pleaded guilty in June, to one count of conspiracy to file false claims, one count of filing a false claim and one count of theft of government funds.  In her plea agreement, Mason admitted that she and her co-conspirators prepared and filed false income tax returns that included fictitious W-2 wages and inflated amounts of income tax withheld to generate refunds ranging from $1,000 to $12,000.  Mason also admitted that she and her co-conspirators shared personal identifying information with each other to file the false tax returns and used multiple bank accounts controlled by the co-conspirators or their family and friends to split the fraudulent refunds.

In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones for the District of Oregon ordered Mason to pay $336,937.61 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  On Nov. 3, co-conspirator Leath was sentenced to 24 months in prison and ordered to pay $55,635.61 in restitution to the IRS.   White and Ware are awaiting sentencing on their guilty pleas to similar charges.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case and Trial Attorneys Lori A. Hendrickson and Ryan R. Raybould of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case with valuable assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland.