| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 19, 2007 WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/CAN |
SAN FRANCISCO – United States Attorney Scott N. Schools and Special Agent in Charge Scott O’Briant of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation announced today that Roger Lexin Mai pleaded guilty to 17 counts of making or presenting false claims to the Internal Revenue Service. This guilty plea is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation.
Mr. Mai, of San Francisco, was indicted by a federal Grand Jury on October 4, 2007. He was charged with 17 counts of filing false claims, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 287. Under the plea agreement, Mr. Mai pled guilty to all counts.
In pleading guilty, Mr. Mai admitted that from about January through April 2003, he filed 17 false tax returns with the IRS. He purchased names and social security numbers from the internet through Craigslist for $20.00 per identity. He created false Wage and Tax Statements, Forms W-2, using the identities he purchased. He then created false U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns, Forms 1040, which he filed electronically, claiming tax refunds of $107,049. The individuals to whom the identities belong did not authorize the sale or use of their identities.
Mr. Mai further admitted that in addition to the filings of the 17 false returns to which he pleaded guilty, he electronically filed an additional 125 false Forms 1040 and Forms W-2, claiming refunds totaling $734,448.
This scheme was identified through research conducted at seven IRS - CI Fraud Detection Centers across the country. All the tax returns were filed electronically and transmitted from a single Internet Protocol (IP) address, which belonged to Mr. Mai.
The maximum statutory penalty for each count of false claims in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 287 is five years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
Cynthia Stier is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Kathy Tat. The prosecution is the result of a two year investigation by the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation.
Further Information:
Case #: CR 07-0628-JSW
A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.
Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
Judges’ calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court’s website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Natalya LaBauve at (415) 436-7055 or by email at Natalya.LaBauve@usdoj.gov.