Defendant Sentenced for Money Laundering Charge Involving Tax Fraud

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 Price Jules, 41, of Miami, was sentenced to 57 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Jules previously pled guilty to one count of money laundering, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1957, for knowingly laundering the proceeds of tax fraud.

According to court documents, the IRS uncovered a pattern of approximately 1,285 attempted fraudulent tax claims seeking approximately $5.7 million in refunds. The IRS paid out $2.74 million in refunds to accounts controlled by another individual, but then approximately $2.3 million left these accounts and was deposited into accounts controlled by Jules and other individuals. There were approximately $629,942 in cash withdrawals and approximately $34,000 in ATM withdrawals from the bank accounts that Jules controlled.

Jules knew that the laundered money was the proceeds of tax fraud because he received approximately $180,000 of tax fraud directly into his personal E-Trade account and approximately $73,000 into his personal bank account. In addition, Jules spoke about engaging in tax fraud and offered to launder the proceeds of tax fraud for a fee.

None of the individuals or estates of individuals listed on the tax returns received any money.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of IRS-CI and the USSS. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys H. Ron Davidson and Susan Osborne.

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.