New Jersey Man Sentenced To Prison For Using Stolen IDS To Seek Fraudulent Tax Refunds

A New Jersey man was sentenced to three months in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States and to aiding and abetting the filing of false claims for tax refunds, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Louis D. Lappen

According to documents filed with the court, Peterson Blanc, 36, engaged in a scheme to fraudulently obtain income tax refunds through the filing of false tax returns using stolen personal identifying information. At least one of Blanc’s co-conspirators electronically filed the returns, which directed that the fraudulently claimed refunds be deposited into bank accounts at TD Bank and Citizens Bank in the name of Peterson Tax Services. Blanc did not have a tax preparation or bookkeeping service, but had opened up the accounts in order to facilitate the crime. He admitted to causing a loss of more than $100,000.

In addition to the term of prison imposed, U.S. District Judge John R. Padova ordered Estelly to serve three years of supervised release and to pay $100,049.10 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The case was investigated by Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David J. Ignall