A former employee of the Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, was convicted by a jury on Wednesday for tax fraud.
The scam was the brainchild of Patricia Fountain, a former IRS customer service representative. She convinced 21 people to file returns claiming the telephone excise tax credit and the first-time homebuyer credit to gain a larger refund. In exchange for her sliding the returns through, she would be paid $400 to $3,000, depending on the size of the refund.
She warned anyone who did not share the refund with her that she would flag the account, causing an audit.
The Department of Justice filed charges against Fountain, boyfriend Larry Ishmael, and third-party Calvin Johnson Jr. The charges were filed in April 2012.
Now that a jury has found the three guilty, they face up to 12-years in federal prison and up to $4.5 million in fines. The trio will be sentenced on June 17.
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