IRS Officer Sentenced for Obstructing Tax Law

A former IRS officer was sentenced today to three years in prison for obstructing federal tax laws, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah.

Former Revenue Officer Sonya Vivar, 55, pleaded guilty in November to one count of corrupt endeavor to obstruct or impede the due administration of internal revenue laws. She was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman.

According to plea papers, Ms. Vivar admitted she attempted to conceal her personal relationship with C.J.B., the subject of an IRS investigation, from the IRS and U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.  

At the time, C.J.B. was operating a business that was delinquent on its employment taxes.

C.J.B. had purchased the company only after Ms. Vivar was assigned to oversee collection efforts against it. Ms. Vivar was aware that C.B.J. had acquired the company and sold its assets at a profit or transferred the assets into newly formed business entities.

At Friday’s sentencing hearing, the judge found that due to the defendant’s crimes, the IRS lost the opportunity to collect more than $4 million in taxes.

IRS – Criminal Investigations conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rob Boudreau and Jay Weimer are prosecuting the case.