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Press Release

Miami Resident Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison for Identity Theft Tax Fraud Scheme

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Florida

A Miami resident was sentenced to 48 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release for possessing personal identifying information (PII) of other individuals and using the PII to file false tax returns.

Benjamin G. Greenberg, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Kelly R. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, made the announcement.

Gregory Clermont, 25, of Miami, previously pled guilty to one count of possession of fifteen or more unauthorized access devices, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1029(a)(3), and one count of aggravated identity theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028A(a)(1).

According to court documents, on May 7, 2013, Clermont was in possession of official tax documents and handwritten lists of names, dates of birth, and social security numbers belonging to other individuals, as well as other handwritten notes relating to the filing of tax returns. Clermont was also in possession of a composition book containing the names, dates of birth, and social security numbers of approximately 140 individuals, three H&R Block debit cards in other people’s names, and a laptop that contained approximately 185 user identification numbers associated with the filing and attempted filing of tax returns through TurboTax online. Clermont admitted that he tried to file tax returns with almost all of the names in the composition book, but was notified that half of the people were deceased when he filed the returns.

Mr. Greenberg commended the investigative efforts of IRS-CI. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. Gonsoulin.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.

Updated August 8, 2017

Topic
Identity Theft