Former IRS Employee Found Guilty on Scheme to Defraud the IRS

Deena Vang Lee, of Fresno, guilty yesterday of three counts of wire fraud, two counts of aggravated identity theft, five counts of preparing and presenting false and fraudulent returns, and three counts of making and subscribing a false and fraudulent tax return. Lee willfully prepared and filed tax returns for other individuals that contained materially false and fraudulent statements and underreported her taxable income on her personal tax returns. In her role as a tax preparer, Lee would put false information on the customer's tax return without their knowledge or consent and submit the returns to the IRS. As part of this scheme, Lee obtained the identification of multiple individuals and falsely listed these individuals as child care providers on multiple customer's tax returns without their knowledge or consent.

Lee is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ana de Alba on May 8, 2023. Lee faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the wire fraud counts; three years in prison and a $250,0000 fine for each of the preparing and presenting false returns counts; three years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the making and subscribing a false tax return counts; and a two-year consecutive mandatory minimum sentence for the aggravate identity theft counts.