Colorado Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Defraud the IRS out of $1.8 Million Dollars

Thomas William Quintin, 65, formerly of Denver, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States with respect to claims, and one count of misuse of a Social Security number (SSN), before U.S. District Court Judge R. Brooke Jackson, the U.S. Department of Justice and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. Quintin is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Jackson on April 2, 2013.

Quintin and a co-conspirator were indicted by a federal grand jury in Denver on Feb. 8, 2012. According to the stipulated facts contained in the plea agreement, starting in July 2009, Quintin participated in a conspiracy to submit to the IRS thousands of false federal individual income tax returns claiming a total of $1,834,011 in refunds in the names of deceased individuals. As part of the scheme, the conspirators established, controlled, and operated a Colorado entity known as Total Tax Services and/or Total Tax and Accounting (TTS), which maintained an office location in Englewood, Colo. They hired other individuals to work at TTS, which they used during the period of July 2009 through October 2009 to prepare and file the false tax returns.

According to court records, Quintin and his coconspirator obtained from an online database the names, dates of birth, SSNs and other identifying information of deceased individuals which they used to prepare and file tax returns in their names. They hired at least one individual whose job was to create email accounts for those deceased individuals; establishing email accounts in the names of the deceased individuals was necessary in order to file the tax returns on-line. They also obtained employer identification numbers (EINs) for various businesses, which they used to claim falsely on tax returns that the deceased individuals had worked at those businesses during the year 2008, earned income, and had taxes withheld from that income; all to allow Quintin and his coconspirator to claim false refunds based on that false income tax withholding.

“The investigation and prosecution of those who commit stolen identity refund fraud is a top priority of the Justice Department,” said Kathryn Keneally, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “The theft of deceased persons’ identities to steal money from the Treasury victimizes all honest taxpayers, and adds to the burdens of grieving family members.”

“ Identity theft creates a significant hardship for many American families, and robs our Nation of taxpayer dollars,” stated Richard Weber, Chief, IRS Criminal Investigation. IRS remains vigilant in identifying, investigating and prosecuting those individuals who seek to willfully defraud the United States Treasury and have a blatant disregard for the victims of their schemes.”

Quintin faces a maximum potential sentence of 10 years in federal prison on the conspiracy charge, and five years on the misuse of a SSN charge. On both charges, he faces a fine of up to $250,000.

This case was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation, and is being prosecuted by Tax Division Trial Attorney John Scully with the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado.