Three Defendants Convicted of Orchestrating Stolen Identity Tax Fraud Scheme

Following a seven-day trial before United States District Court Judge Donald L. Graham, a jury convicted three defendants for their participation in a stolen identity tax fraud scheme.

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 Steve Steinberg, Chief, Aventura Police Department, made the announcement.

Wolf Obin, 32, and Stanley Moscova, 28, both of Miami-Dade, and Rosny Muller, 29, of Broward County, were convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud the government with respect to claims, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 286, and one count of possession of fifteen or more unauthorized access devices, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1029(a)(3). Obin and Moscova were also convicted of three counts of aggravated identity theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028A. Sentencing for the defendants is scheduled for January 4, 2017, before Judge Donald L. Graham. At sentencing for their respective convictions, the defendants face up to ten years in prison for each of the conspiracy and access device charges, and two years’ imprisonment, consecutive to any other prison term, for the aggravated identity theft charges.

According to evidence presented at trial, beginning in October 2011, Obin, Moscova, and Muller fraudulently obtained Electronic Filing Identification Numbers (EFINs) in the names of other individuals who acted as “straw” EFIN holders which allowed the defendants to submit tax returns in the names of other individuals. The defendants then used those EFINs, as well as EFINs in their own names, to file fraudulent federal income tax returns with the IRS using the stolen personal identifying information (PII) of other individuals without their knowledge and authority. During a search warrant of the defendants’ Aventura apartment, law enforcement discovered the PII of more than 1,600 individuals. Through their tax filings, the defendants claimed approximately $2,300,000 in fraudulent federal tax refunds from the IRS.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the IRS-CI and the Aventura Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew J. Langley and Luis M. Perez.

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