Alexis Stevens reports:
Nine people from metro Atlanta, including a former Social Security Administration employee, were sentenced to federal prison for their roles in a $5 million income tax scheme, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Wednesday.
The scheme involved stolen identities from more than 1,000 people, Acting U.S. Attorney John Horn said in an emailed statement.
[…]
From approximately January 2011 until March 2012, Shawn Brown, 38, of Atlanta, led the criminal organization, commonly called stolen identity refund fraud, according to investigators. Brown and others used stolen personal identification information from more than 1,000 victims, along with fake wage and withholding information, to prepare and electronically file fraudulent returns claiming $5 million in tax refunds.
Read more about the individual defendants and their sentences on AJC.