Two Brothers Indicted for Tax Fraud and Identity Theft

Greenbelt, Maryland - A federal grand jury indicted Ewdy Jose Olivo, age 28, of Rockville, Maryland and his brother Juan Manuel Olivo, age 30, of Hyattsville, Maryland today for obtaining false tax refunds by stealing the identities of others to prepare and file false income tax returns.

The indictment was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Acting Special Agent in Charge Sheila Olander of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, Washington, D.C. Field Office.

“IRS Criminal Investigation has made investigating refund fraud and identity theft a top priority,” said Sheila Olander, Acting Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Washington DC Field Office. “We are aggressively pursuing identify thieves and working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in bringing to justice those who harm and steal from the American taxpayer.” The Olivo brothers owned and operated Oligil Tax Services located at 8549 Piney Branch Road in Silver Spring, Maryland.

The 18 count indictment alleges that from April 2007 to January 2010, the brothers stole personal identifying information such as social security numbers and birth dates of others, many of whom were residents of Puerto Rico and were not required to file federal income tax returns so long as all of their income was derived from Puerto Rican sources. The brothers allegedly prepared false income tax returns in the victims’ names and filed them electronically with the IRS from Maryland. They requested that the IRS mail tax refund checks to addresses controlled by them and deposited the checks into their bank accounts. The amount of individual refunds claimed ranged from $1,562 to $4,950.

The indictment seeks the forfeiture of $88,960 seized on April 10, 2012 from the defendants’ tax office and the home of Juan Olivo.

The defendants face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for conspiring to commit wire fraud and for each of 11 counts for wire fraud; and a mandatory minimum of two years in prison consecutive to any other sentence imposed on each of six counts of aggravated identity theft. Their initial appearance has not yet been scheduled.

An indictment is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the IRS Criminal Investigation for its work in the investigation and thanked Assistant United States Attorney Robert K. Hur, who is prosecuting the case.