Guatemalan National Sentenced for his Role in $10 Million Tax Fraud Conspiracy

U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that CARLOS HUMBERTO FUENTES CORDON, 36, a Guatemalan national, was sentenced today for conspiracy to defraud the United States by filing false tax returns.

U.S. District Court Judge Susie Morgan sentenced FUENTES CORDON to 24 months in prison, one year of supervised release, and ordered him to pay restitution in the amount of $393,031 to the United States. In November 2014, FUENTES CORDON’s sister, JACQUELINE J. ARIAS, a tax return preparer from Spruce Pine, Alabama was sentenced to serve 97 months in prison for her role in the scheme and ordered to pay more than $10,000,000 in restitution. 

On February 11, 2015, FUENTES CORDON pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. According to court documents, FUENTES CORDON and his co-conspirators filed false returns listing Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs).  An ITIN is a tax processing number issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to individuals who do not have, and are not eligible to obtain, a Social Security Number.  The indictment charged that ARIAS filed false applications for ITINs, false income tax returns, and collected preparation fees from the fraudulently-obtained tax refunds. As alleged in the superseding indictment, FUENTES CORDON worked at ARIAS’s income tax preparation business when he was present in the United States, filing false income tax returns listing a Post Office Box under his control.

To date, seventeen defendants have pleaded guilty in the case and four remain fugitives believed to be overseas. All of the defendants in this case who pleaded guilty thus far were sentenced to terms of imprisonment, including OLSEN SARAVIA HERNANDEZ (43 months); CESAR ALEJANDRO SORIANO (42 months); OSCAR ARMANDO PERDOMO (42 months); YONI PERDOMO (38 months); ARNULFO SANTOS-MEDRADO, (38 months); ELSIDES EDGARDO ALVARADO-CANALES (36 months); ELIECER OBED RODRIGUEZ (34 months); OCTAVIO JOSUE PERDOMO (34 months); ELBER MENDOZA-LOPEZ (34 months); AURELIO MONTIEL-MARTINEZ (24 months); MILLER PERDOMO-ACEITUNO (24 months); SANTOS MARTIN HERNANDEZ, (24 months); and SUSANA CARILLO MENDOZA (19 months).

U.S. Attorney Polite praised the work of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which oversees U.S. Homeland Security Investigations; IRS-Criminal Investigation; the U.S. Secret Service; the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General, in partnership with the St. Tammany Parish and Jefferson Parish Sheriffs’ Departments in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorneys Hayden Brockett and Assistant United States Attorney David Haller were in charge of the prosecution.