While we wait to see how things shake out at the Internal Revenue Service under the second Donald J. Trump term, I thought it worth taking a look back at some recent tax agency activity.
Notably, the IRS’ law enforcement arm, the IRS Criminal Investigation unit, has over the years made progress in nabbing both domestic and international tax scofflaws. IRS-CI officials recently announced the investigations they deemed their top 10 cases of 2024.
“Each year, I’m amazed with the variety of cases that make our top 10 list,” said IRS-CI Chief Guy Ficco. “Our agents know how to follow the money, and they use their investigative prowess to target criminals who prey on unsuspecting victims, funnel narcotics into the U.S., and steal from others for personal gain.”
In addition to putting tax criminals behind bars, the 10 tax-related cases — ranging from money laundering to drug trafficking to embezzlement to, yes, the old standby tax evasion schemes — earn this weekend’s By the Numbers honor.
Here they are, going from 10th to Number 1. The links below are to IRS.gov pages that provide details on each case.
10. A former attorney was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison on embezzlement and fraud charges in connection with collapse of Washington Federal Bank.
9. A former law firm partner was sentenced to 10 years in prison for laundering $400 million of OneCoin fraud proceeds.
8. A former Los Angeles politician was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison for racketeering conspiracy and tax evasion.
7. A suburban Chicago man was sentenced to 18 years in prison for trafficking fentanyl and attempting to support ISIS.
6. The leader of sophisticated stolen identity tax refund scheme was sentenced to more than 14 years in prison.
5. A former NFL Jacksonville Jaguars employee was sentenced to more than six years for embezzling in excess of $22 million.
4. A Russian-Swedish national who operated Bitcoin Fog was sentenced to 12½ years in prison for his part in a money laundering conspiracy involving more than 1.2 million bitcoin valued at around $400 million, and which enabled criminals to hide illicit proceeds tied to illegal narcotics, computer crimes, identity theft, and child sexual abuse material.
3. Two tax shelter promoters were sentenced for their roles in a 1.3 billion-dollar Syndicated Conservation Easement (SCE) tax scheme, and two more CPAs pleaded guilty in the case.
2. Binance Holdings, the entity that operates the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $4.3 billion to resolve the Department of Justice’s investigation into violations related to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), failure to register as a money transmitting business, and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Binance's founder and former chief executive officer also pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program, in violation of the BSA.
1. A former civilian financial program manager for the U.S. Army’s Installation Management Command was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison and agreed to pay more than $140 million in restitution in connection with a fraud scheme she used to apply for, and receive, millions of dollars from the 4-H Military Partnership Grant program.
You can keep up with IRS-CI’s latest investigations, arrests, and successful resolutions by following @IRS_CI on X/formerly Twitter, and on LinkedIn.
You also might find these items of interest:
- IRS collection from rich nonfilers exceeds $1.3 billion
- IRS gets John Doe summons for gig economy tax investigation
- IRS-CI chief likens tax law enforcement unit’s recent successes to takedown of Al Capone
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