Broward Resident Sentenced For Role In Bank Fraud Involving Stolen Identity Tax Refunds

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Kelly R. Jackson, 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, 43, of Lauderhill, Florida, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom to 46 months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release stemming from his convictions 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 was also ordered to pay $208,261.90, in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service, which represents the actual loss suffered by the IRS in this case.

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). Toussaint paid the bank employees between $2,000 and $10,000, for opening the bank accounts.

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 obtain the funds by wire transfer or would utilize multiple automated teller machines (ATMs) to withdraw the money in cash.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of IRS-CI and USSS. The case was 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.