On Christmas Eve 2001, the District’s tax and revenue office issued a property tax refund check for $1.2 million to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, according to records obtained by The Examiner.

It was written care of a man named David A. Young and slated to be mailed to a post office box in San Antonio.

Whether the check was mailed and whether it was cashed remain to be established. But almost everything about the check — one of the largest issued by the city tax office during the period when federal prosecutors charged widespread corruption was unfolding — appears questionable.

The check suggests the fraud inside the city’s tax office, which federal prosecutors say has reached at least $20 million, may be much more extensive than revealed so far.

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The FDIC said it has no record of receiving a property tax refund check of that size, which surpasses the agency’s entire 2001 D.C. property tax bill of $725,000.

Refunds are paid only when a taxpayer has paid more in taxes than is owed, authorities said.

“A property tax refund of that size would be highly unusual,” said FDIC spokesman David Barr.

And the Superior Court of the Columbia Tax Division has no record of the FDIC filing a property tax refund request during that period and the year before.

A legitimate property tax refund typically is approved after Superior Court review. The court has no records of the FDIC applying for a tax refund during the 2000-2002 period.

It’s not clear where the $1.2 million check ended up. Young was not employed by the FDIC, Barr said.

The agency has found no record that Young had been hired as a consultant or contractor.

Two people named David A. Young contacted by The Examiner in San Antonio said they have never had any dealings with the FDIC and have no knowledge of a $1.2 million check.

The only other person with the name listed in phone, business or property tax records in San Antonio did not respond to phone calls or faxes for comment.

A reporter knocked on his door Monday night, but the man who answered said Young was not home.

Requests to have him call were ignored.

The wide-ranging tax office scheme, which prosecutors said was used to embezzle tens of millions of dollars from the District’s treasury, often employed the names of real lawyers, businessmen and businesses to make the documents appear legitimate.

The million-dollar check is more than twice the amount of any fraudulent payment that federal prosecutors have publicly acknowledged thus far.

The fledgling investigation has uncovered more than $20 million in fraudulent checks, averaging about $388,000 a check.

Natalie Wilson, a spokeswoman for the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, said the ongoing investigations prohibited her from commenting about the check or any transaction.

smccabe@dcexaminer.com