Broward Resident Pleads Guilty To Bank Fraud Charges Involving Stolen Identity Tax Refunds

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Donnell Young, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), and Paula Reid, Special Agent in Charge, United States Secret Service (USSS), Miami Field Office, announce that Willy Toussaint, 41, of Lauderhill, pled guilty today to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349, and two counts of bank fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1344. Toussaint also agreed to an order of restitution in the amount of $208,261.90, which represents the actual loss suffered by the IRS in this case.

At sentencing, the defendant faces a maximum statutory sentence of up to thirty years in prison, five years of supervised release, and a $1,000,000 fine. Sentencing has been scheduled for October 10, 2014, at 3:00 p.m. before U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom in Ft. Lauderdale.

According to court documents, Toussaint obtained counterfeit means of identification, including counterfeit State of Florida driver’s licenses, and caused multiple unauthorized personal and business bank accounts to be created at JP Morgan Chase Bank in the names of unsuspecting identity theft victims utilizing their personal identification information (PII). As compensation for opening the bank accounts, Toussaint paid the bank employees between $2,000 and $10,000.

Court documents also state that co-conspirators utilized stolen PII to submit false, fictitious, and fraudulent federal income tax returns to the IRS claiming tax refunds to which they were not entitled. The fraudulently claimed tax refunds were then deposited into the bank accounts established with the assistance of Toussaint. After the tax refunds were received at the bank, co-conspirators would either “wire” the money out of the established accounts or would utilize multiple automated teller machines (ATMs) to withdraw the money in cash.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of IRS-CI and the USSS. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc S. Anton.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.