TAX NEWS - June 2010

US Tax: Man who filed bogus tax returns sent to federal prison

A man who filed bogus tax returns using the stolen identities of his mother and the children of two lady-friends was sent to federal prison for seven years yesterday, federal prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said former Hollis resident Todd R. Silver, 38, obtained more than $850,000 in tax refunds from the IRS before his scheme was discovered.

When arrested last year, Silver was charged with 21 crimes, filing fraudulent tax returns, making false statements to the IRS and identity theft.

Mark S. Zuckerman, the assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case, said the identity thefts involved two children apiece from two different women. Silver was living with one of the women at the time of his arrest last year, Zuckerman said.

Authorites said Silver filed claims showing the children and his mother had investment income and falsely claimed millions in tax refunds. He also filed two returns under his own name and one under the fictitious name of Todd R. Farro.

In total, he filed 13 claims in 2007 and 2008 for $4 million in refunds.

"I'd have to say it was (sophisticated)," Zuckerman said. "It certainly required an understanding of computer filing with the IRS and understanding of how investment banks report their distributions to the IRS."

Zuckerman said Silver claimed to have worked in high technology, but investigators could never confirm that.

No one attended the hearing yesterday to speak on behalf of Silver, the prosecutor said.

After serving his sentence, Silver will be on supervised release for three years, and he must repay the federal government about $851,500.

Investigators never recovered any of the refund money, Zuckerman said.