North Texas man sentenced to nearly 8 years in federal prison for role in tax refund fraud scheme

DALLAS — A North Texas man who pleaded guilty to his role in a stolen identity tax refund fraud scheme was sentenced Monday nearly eight years in federal prison.

This sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.  This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Criminal Investigation, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Reminco Zhangazha was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David C. Godbey to 93 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $2,648,334 in restitution.  Zhangazha, who is in custody, pleaded guilty in June 2014 to one count of theft of public funds.  Zhangazha’s co-defendant in this case, Tonderai Sakupwanya, pleaded guilty last year to the same offense and was sentenced earlier this year to 87 months in federal prison; he was also ordered to pay more than $2.6 million in restitution.  The restitution is payable jointly and severally by the two defendants.

The plea agreements with the government note that the defendants will forfeit the following property seized by law enforcement in May 2012 during this investigation:  $10,613 cash seized from Zhangazha’s vehicle; $93,513 cash from Villa Piana Luxury Apartments on Noel Road in Dallas; and $4,500 from a residence on Spring Mountain in Plano, Texas.

According to the factual resumes filed in the case, Zhangazha and Sakupwanya engaged in a scheme to defraud the IRS by obtaining stolen tax refunds that were generated by e-filing false and fraudulent income tax returns.  They rented private mailboxes in the names of aliases by using forged United Kingdom passports.  They then established bank accounts using the alias names and mailing addresses acquired at the private mailboxes.  During the course of the scheme, Zhangazha used the aliases of “Martin V. Masters” and “Roy Daniel Black.”  Sakupwanya used the aliases of “Webster G. Rice,” “Floyd Robbins,” and “Floyd Roberts,” during the scheme, according to the factual resume.

According to the factual resumes, the Forms 1040 directed the IRS to electronically deposit the refunds into bank accounts the defendants established.  Alternatively, the Forms 1040 directed refunds to be issued by a treasury check and mailed to an address under the control of the defendants.  The income tax returns also directed refunds to accounts established at a third-party financial services company, such as EPS Financial, that would enable them to issue a check containing the tax refund.  These third-party checks and the treasury checks were deposited into bank accounts the defendants established.  After the checks were deposited, or the tax refunds were electronically deposited, the defendants withdrew the funds for their own use and benefit.  The factual resumes note that the cash, mentioned above, which was seized from the defendants during the investigation, was obtained by them as a result of their scheme.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Stokes prosecuted, Northern District of Texas, was in charge of the prosecution.