Jury Returns Guilty Verdicts Against Andover Attorney in $1 Million IRS Scam

BOSTON – Following a two-week trial, an Andover attorney was convicted today of laundering more than $1 million in fraudulently-obtained IRS refund checks through several different bank accounts, including the attorney’s trust accounts.

R. David Cohen, 64, was convicted by a federal jury of on one count of conspiracy, 14 counts of conversion and receipt of stolen United States property, and one count conspiracy to commit money laundering.  U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin scheduled sentencing for April 26, 2016.

The evidence at trial demonstrated a scheme in which individuals filed fraudulent tax returns with fictitious W-2 information, usually a name and social security number of a resident of Puerto Rico, whose residents are not required to file federal income tax returns.  Once the fraudulent returns were accepted by the IRS, refund checks were sent to designated addresses in Lawrence, East Boston, and New York controlled by Cohen’s co-conspirators. 

Beginning in October 2011, Cohen and his co-conspirators deposited over 100 fraudulently-obtained tax refund checks totaling over $1 million into banks to launder them through Cohen’s “Interest On Lawyer’s Trust Accounts” (IOLTA), as well as through bank accounts in the name of AD Professional Association, Inc.  When questioned by bank officials about the large amount of U.S. Treasury checks Cohen was depositing and negotiating through his IOLTA and personal accounts, Cohen falsely claimed that the payees were his clients.  When one bank requested proof concerning one of the IRS refund checks, Cohen provided a fake participation agreement and affidavit purporting to state that he had the client’s authority to deposit her IRS refund check into his IOLTA account.

The charge of conspiracy to convert and receive stolen United States property provides for a sentence of no greater than five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross loss or gain from the offense.  The charge of conversion and receipt of United States property provides for a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross loss or gain for each count from the offense.  The charge of conspiracy to launder funds provides for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross loss or gain from the offense.  Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston, made the announcement today.  The case is being prosecuted by S. Theodore Merritt and Ryan M. DiSantis of Ortiz’s Public Corruption Unit.