Tax Fraud Fugitive Sentenced To Over Eight Years For Role In Stolen Identity Refund Fraud Scheme

Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Kovachevich today sentenced Everett Taylor to eight years, six months in federal prison for theft of government funds and aggravated identify theft. The Court also ordered him to forfeit real property located in Tampa, which is traceable to the offenses. In addition, the Court entered a money judgment in the amount of $124,521, the proceeds of the charged criminal conduct.   

Everett Taylor pleaded guilty on July 3, 2017.

According to court documents, Taylor and his brother, Robert Earl Taylor, were involved in a scheme to file false and fraudulent income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in order to generate large refunds. The investigation revealed that the IRS had received fraudulent tax returns and had issued refunds totaling $304,411.24 based on fraudulent tax filings in the amount of $575,884.24. Pending trial, Everett Taylor was released from detention and ordered to home confinement and electronic monitoring. In June 2015, he removed his electronic monitoring device and fled from pretrial release. He remained a fugitive until mid-2017.

In January 2015, Robert Earl Taylor was sentenced to eight months of home detention for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, theft of government property, and making fraudulent claims to the Department of the Treasury.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation and U.S. Secret Service. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Adam M. Saltzman and Sara C. Sweeney.