Baltimore Man Sentenced for Running IRS Tax Refund Scheme in Central New York

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Arkmallah Hilliard, age 38, of Baltimore, Maryland, was sentenced today to serve 5 years in prison, to be followed by 3 years of post-imprisonment supervised release, and ordered to pay $943,597.00 in restitution to the IRS, after previously pleading guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States.  The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith, Special Agent in Charge Jonathan D. Larsen, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), New York Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Leigh-Alistair Barzey, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), Northeast Field Office.

Hilliard previously pled guilty to conspiring with former Utica resident Anas Wilson and others to defraud the IRS by filing false and fraudulent income tax returns in the names of various individuals and obtaining tax refunds to which they were not entitled. Hilliard used his own bank accounts and others he controlled that were opened by co-conspirators to receive the tax refunds, after which Hilliard and others withdrew, spent, and transferred the money for their own purposes. The conspiracy netted Hilliard, Anas Wilson, and others a total of more than $900,000.00 in tax refunds from the IRS based on their filing of over 400 fraudulent income tax returns. Anas Wilson previously pled guilty to similar charges in federal court in Syracuse and is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence.

Senior United States District Judge Frederick J. Scullin, Jr. presided over the case and sentenced both Hilliard and Wilson.

This case was investigated by Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael F. Perry.