Press Release
United States Postal Service Employee Charged in Scheme to Fraudulently Extinguish Debts and to Obtain Fraudulent Tax Refunds
For Immediate Release
Office of Public Affairs
Aaron H. Kelly, a United States Postal Service employee, was indicted yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland for four counts of mail fraud, two counts of bank fraud, one count of corruptly endeavoring to obstruct and impede the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and two counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns, the Justice Department and IRS announced today following the unsealing of the indictment.
According to the indictment, Kelly, a resident of Maryland, engaged in a scheme to defraud the IRS, the Thrift Saving Plan and the Educational Systems Federal Credit Union by sending fictitious financial instruments to fraudulently extinguish the taxes he owed to the United States as well as the debts he owed to the Thrift Savings Plan and the Federal Credit Union. In addition, Kelly submitted two false tax returns to the IRS that requested millions of dollars in fraudulent refunds.
An indictment is merely an allegation and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted, Kelly faces a statutory maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison for each mail fraud count, 30 years in prison for each bank fraud count and three years in prison for each of the tax-related counts.
This case was investigated by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and special agents of IRS - Criminal Investigation. Trial Attorneys Ken Vert and Yael T. Epstein of the department’s Tax Division are prosecuting the case.
Updated September 15, 2014
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