Maryland tax fraud case advances with guilty plea over $1.1 million IRS refund scheme
A Maryland woman has pleaded guilty in a federal tax fraud case tied to false trust returns that sought more than $1.1 million from the government. The scheme ran between December 2019 and March 2020 and led the IRS to issue a $412,000 refund that prosecutors say was used in part to pay a home mortgage.
Highlights
- Kendra Scarborough pleaded guilty to theft of government funds after filing three false IRS returns seeking over $1.1 million between December 2019 and March 2020.
- The IRS issued a $412,000 refund to a trust Scarborough controlled, part of which she used for personal expenses including mortgage payments.
- Scarborough faces sentencing on September 9, with a maximum of five years in prison, supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties possible.
Court filings outline refund fraud scheme
As announced by the U.S. Department of Justice, Kendra Scarborough of Oxon Hill, Maryland, pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government funds after filing false tax returns with the IRS in the names of purported trusts she controlled.According to court documents and statements made in court, Scarborough filed three false returns between December 2019 and March 2020. Those filings sought more than $1.1 million in refunds that the trusts were not entitled to receive, and the IRS issued a $412,000 refund to one of the purported trusts.
Prosecutors said she used part of the refunded money for personal expenses, including payments on the mortgage for her residence.
Sentencing exposure and enforcement action
Scarborough is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 9 and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. She also faces supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties, with the final sentence to be determined by a federal district court judge after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald of the Justice Department's National Fraud Enforcement Division. IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case, and Trial Attorney Melissa Siskind of the Criminal Division's Tax Section is prosecuting it.
Federal scrutiny of Medicare Advantage billing and risk-adjustment coding has been intensifying, and we previously covered a case in which Matrix Medical Network, HealthFair, and HealthFair founder Shahriah “James” Ekbatani agreed to pay $56.5 million to resolve allegations tied to unsupported diagnosis codes. The settlements, which included whistleblower awards and no determination of liability, underscored the government’s broader push to curb waste, abuse, and false claims in taxpayer-funded programs.
Latest Law Enforcement News
-
Afghanistan
-
Albania
-
Algeria
-
Angola
-
Argentina
-
Armenia
-
Australia
-
Austria
-
Azerbaijan
-
Bahamas
-
Bahrain
-
Bangladesh
-
Belarus
-
Belgium
-
Bolivia
-
Botswana
-
Brazil
-
Brunei
-
Bulgaria
-
Cambodia
-
Cameroon
-
Canada
-
Chile
-
China
-
Colombia
-
Congo
-
Costa Rica
-
Cote d'Ivoire
-
Croatia
-
Cuba
-
Cyprus
-
Czechia
-
DR Congo
-
Denmark
-
Dominican Republic
-
Ecuador
-
Egypt
-
El Salvador
-
Estonia
-
Eswatini
-
Ethiopia
-
Finland
-
France
-
Georgia
-
Germany
-
Ghana
-
Greece
-
Haiti
-
Hong Kong
-
Hungary
-
India
-
Indonesia
-
Iran, Islamic republic
-
Iraq
-
Ireland
-
Israel
-
Italy
-
Jamaica
-
Japan
-
Jordan
-
Kazakhstan
-
Kenya
-
Korea
-
Kuwait
-
Kyrgyzstan
-
Laos
-
Latvia
-
Lebanon
-
Lesotho
-
Libya
-
Lithuania
-
Luxembourg
-
Madagascar
-
Malaysia
-
Malta
-
Mauritius
-
Mexico
-
Moldova
-
Mongolia
-
Montenegro
-
Morocco
-
Mozambique
-
Myanmar
-
Namibia
-
Nepal
-
Netherlands
-
New Zealand
-
Nigeria
-
North Macedonia
-
Norway
-
Oman
-
Pakistan
-
Palestine
-
Panama
-
Papua New Guinea
-
Paraguay
-
Peru
-
Philippines
-
Poland
-
Portugal
-
Puerto Rico
-
Qatar
-
Reunion
-
Romania
-
Rwanda
-
Saudi Arabia
-
Serbia
-
Singapore
-
Slovakia
-
Slovenia
-
Somalia
-
South Africa
-
Spain
-
Sri Lanka
-
Sweden
-
Switzerland
-
Syria
-
Taiwan
-
Tajikistan
-
Tanzania
-
Thailand
-
Trinidad and Tobago
-
Tunisia
-
Turkey
-
UAE
-
Uganda
-
Ukraine
-
United Kingdom
-
United States
-
Uruguay
-
Uzbekistan
-
Venezuela
-
Vietnam
-
Yemen
-
Zambia
-
Zimbabwe
- Forex
- Crypto
