Hyattsville Man Sentenced To Two Years In Prison For Fraudulent Tax Refund Scheme

Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced Norman D. West, age 48, of Hyattsville, Maryland and Washington, D.C. today to two years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to commit theft of public money in connection with a fraudulent tax refund scheme. Judge Chasanow also entered an order requiring West to pay restitution of $408,221.30, the total amount of the tax loss.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Thomas Jankowski of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, Washington, D.C. Field Office; Jeffrey S. DeWitt, Chief Financial Officer for the District of Columbia; Gilbert Garza, Chief of the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue, Criminal Investigation Division; and John L. Phillips, Assistant Inspector General for Investigations, U.S. Department of the Treasury - Office of Inspector General.

“Conspiring to defraud the government through filing false tax returns is unlawful.” said Thomas Jankowski, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Washington DC Field Office.  “Bringing individuals to justice, such as Norman West, who intentionally engage in defrauding the IRS and taxpayers is a priority for IRS-CI.”

John L. Phillips, Assistant Inspector General for Investigations, Treasury Office of Inspector General, said, “The sentencing today demonstrates the continued efforts of the Treasury Office of Inspector General and our law enforcement partners to protect our nation and the hard working taxpayers money from offenders who commit fraud against the Treasury Department by fraudulently obtaining improper payments.”

According to West’s plea agreement, West is a musician and operated a putative tax preparation business known as “Flash Cash Financial,” or “Flash Cash,” which had a purported business address in Baltimore, Maryland. 

From August 2011 through January 2013, West and his co-conspirators obtained the personal information of “recruits” which West used to file false tax returns in order to generate a fraudulent refund.  West relied largely upon word of mouth to market his scheme.  West paid a co-conspirator a $100 referral fee per recruit. West and his co-conspirators obtained the identities of at least 197 individuals. West used the personal information of those individuals and made up the rest of the tax returns in order to generate refunds. West listed false wages, falsely claimed educational tax credits, and falsely claimed earned income tax credit.

West filed 197 federal tax returns that claimed $391,553 in fraudulent tax refunds, all of which was issued by the IRS.  In addition, West filed 28 fraudulent returns with the District of Columbia, which generated an additional $16,668.30 in fraudulent refunds.  All of the refunds were deposited in bank accounts opened by West in the name of Flash Cash.  West paid the recruits a small portion of the fraudulent refunds, usually about $500, and kept the rest for himself and his co-conspirators.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the IRS-CI, the Washington, D.C. Office of the Chief Financial Officer and Office of Tax and Revenue, Criminal Investigation Division, and the Department of Treasury Office of Inspector General, for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen O. Gavin, who prosecuted the case.