Jacksonville Man Charged In $1.3 Million Tax Fraud

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces the return of an indictment charging Carmel Linot with one count of conspiracy, four counts of theft of government funds, and four counts of aggravated identity theft. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 5 years in federal prison for the conspiracy charge, 10 years’ imprisonment for each theft of government funds charge, and 2 years in federal prison for each identity theft charge. The indictment also notifies Linot that the United States intends to forfeit assets traceable to proceeds of the offense.

According to the indictment, between January 2011 and June 2012, in Duval County and elsewhere, Linot conspired with others to obtain the names and Social Security numbers of juveniles and then filed or caused to be filed fraudulent tax returns using that information. The indictment also alleges that the conspiracy involved the filing of 1,800 false and fraudulent federal income tax returns, resulting in $1.3 million in refunds being paid out. The conspiracy included the theft of the personal identifying information (“PII”) of juveniles from a website in Palm Beach County, Florida. These identities were then used in some of the false and fraudulent tax returns.

Linot is also charged in four individual counts of theft of government property, in which it is alleged that Internal Revenue Service tax refunds were electronically deposited into his bank account in June 2012. The theft charges are the basis of four separate aggravated identity theft charges because names and Social Security numbers of persons were used unlawfully in order to claim the four fraudulent refunds.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless,  and until, proven guilty.

This case was investigated by Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation.  It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dale Campion.