Jacksonville Men Sentenced In Tax Refund Fraud Scheme

Jacksonville, Florida – United States District Judge Marcia Morales Howard has sentenced Roberto Bisono and Juan Miguel Ruiz for their roles in a conspiracy involving theft of government property and cashing numerous false and fraudulently filed federal income tax refund checks. Bisono and Ruiz were sentenced to 18 months and 15 months in federal prison, respectively. Both were also ordered to pay $711,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

According to court records, between November 2011 and April 2012, Bisono obtained U.S. Treasury checks that had been mailed to bogus taxpayers in the Bronx, New York. These checks were the results of false and fraudulently filed tax returns. In November 2011, Bisono deposited the first seven checks into a business bank account that belonged to Ruiz.  He later furnished the remaining 104 checks to Ruiz, who operated a check cashing business in Jacksonville. Ruiz deposited the additional checks into his business bank account and wrote checks totaling over $227,000 to Bisono and others associated with Bisono. 

This case was investigated by the Jacksonville office of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dale R. Campion.