Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Victor W. Lessoff, the Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York  Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division (“IRS-CI”), and Kevin J. McGlynn, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration,  announced today the unsealing of a six-count Indictment charging JARED BREWTON with a fraudulent tax refund scheme involving identity theft, subscribing to false and fraudulent tax returns, and impersonating an IRS employee and New York State Department of Labor official.  BREWTON was arrested earlier this morning and is expected to be arraigned in White Plains federal court later today.

The following allegations are based on the Indictment unsealed today in White Plains federal court: 

From in or about 2006 through in or about 2010, BREWTON devised and executed a scheme to obtain false and fraudulent tax refunds from the IRS.  BREWTON carried out this scheme by preparing and causing to be sent to the IRS various federal income tax returns – in his own name and in the names of others – that falsely and fraudulently inflated income and withholding.  For example, BREWTON falsely reported that his wages for calendar year 2006 were $783,981 and that $359,750 in taxes had been withheld by his employers.  BREWTON also fraudulently obtained tax refunds in other people’s names by stealing or defrauding them into giving him their personal identifying information, then filing fraudulent tax returns in their names, and directing that the resulting refunds be sent to his address. 

To further the scheme, for example, on at least one occasion, BREWTON posed as someone affiliated with the New York State Department of Labor in order to persuade a taxpayer to provide him with the taxpayer’s name, date or birth, and Social Security number.  On multiple other occasions, BREWTON posed as an employee of the IRS claiming to be an “Audit Group Representative” named “Susan Waters.”

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BREWTON, 27, of Yonkers, New York, faces a maximum term upon conviction of 34 years in prison on the charges in the Indictment.

Mr. BHARARA praised the outstanding investigative work of the IRS-CI. 

This case is being handled by the Office's White Plains Divisions.  Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. Collins is in charge of the prosecution.

The charge and allegations contained in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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