IRS agent indicted in refi scheme

July 27, 2009

Talk about your major conflict of interest!

An
IRS agent who worked for a mortgage company on the side
allegedly pressured delinquent taxpayers whom he was investigating to
go to his other employer to refinance their mortgages so they could get
enough cash to pay their tax bills.

According
to court filings, Mark Claybrooks of Brentwood, Calif., worked as an
IRS revenue officer in Walnut Creek, Calif., contacting people whose federal tax bills were overdue. From 2003 to 2005, he also worked for
Faith Mortgage Group in Antioch Calif., refinancing residential
loans.

The
indictment handed up last week alleges that from 2002 to 2008, the
41-year-old Claybrooks recommended to at least two people that they
"pay off delinquent federal income tax obligations by refinancing with
Faith Mortgage Group."

Claybrooks
is officially charged with three counts of "acts affecting a personal
financial interest" and two counts of fraud for allegedly using IRS
computers without authorization.

Read
more in the
San Francisco Chronicle, WebCPA and the Contra
Costa Times.

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Comments

Roth & Company, P.C.

17 years ago Reply

Make sure your crimes are committed by unionized Treasury employees.

Congress this year ended the pilot program to outsource collection of delinquent taxes to private collections. Opponents of the program…

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IRS agent indicted in refi scheme

Roth & Company, P.C.