| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 25, 2008 WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/CAN |
SAN FRANCISCO – United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello and IRS, Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge, Scott O’Briant announced today that Roger Lexin Mai was sentenced to 2 years in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution of $57,481 for presenting false claims to the Internal Revenue Service.
Mr. Mai, 33, of San Francisco, pleaded guilty on November 15, 2007 to 17 counts of filing false claims, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 287. 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 through the internet site, 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, 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 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.
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 lead IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent Maridehl Tablac.
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 Joshua Eaton at (415) 436-6958 or by email at Josh.Eaton@usdoj.gov.