Bismarck Man Sentenced for Tax Fraud

BISMARCK - U. S. Attorney Christopher C. Myers announced that on February 16, 2016, Solomon Lindsay, 39, Bismarck, N.D., was sentenced before U. S. District Court Judge Daniel L. Hovland to time served plus three years’ supervised release on three counts of Tax Fraud. Judge Hovland also ordered Lindsay to pay $300 to the Crime Victims’ Fund, as well as restitution to the IRS.

An IRS investigation revealed that for the tax years 2009 through 2012, Lindsay, who has a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from UND, ran a tax service out of his apartment. Lindsay created a scheme whereby he would file returns on behalf of others, mainly family and friends, which would include inflated income figures and false credits. Each return then requested a false refund. Lindsay electronically filed the returns and deposited all the refunds in his personal account. Each taxpayer received a smaller refund than requested, while Lindsay skimmed a substantial amount of the money for himself. The scam resulted in the IRS paying out fraudulent refunds totaling $140,741.00.

The U. S. Attorney’s Office is committed to the enforcement of all federal tax violations, from refund scams to tax evasion schemes, and will continue to aggressively prosecute this category of federal crimes.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service.

Assistant U. S. Attorney Cameron Hayden prosecuted the case.