Lauderdale Woman Found Guilty In IRS Tax Refund Scam
FT. LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – A Ft. Lauderdale woman accused of trying to bilk the Internal Revenue Service out of millions of dollars in tax refunds by submitting phony returns was found guilty Monday on numerous counts of identity theft, filing false claims and conspiracy to defraud the government.
Federal prosecutors say Alci Bonannee, 36, was the ring leader of a group involved in an identity theft tax fraud scheme which operated from December 2010 to June 2012.
During that time they submitted approximately 2,000 fraudulent tax returns to the IRS seeking $11 million dollars in refunds. The Department of Treasury paid out several million dollars into bank accounts in the name of, and controlled by, Bonannee and her co-conspirators who withdrew the money.
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, the Bonannee filed a large percentage of the fraudulent returns from her house in Fort Lauderdale, from her friends' houses in Broward County and from a hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Bonannee will be sentenced on April 26th. She faces a possible maximum prison sentence of 351 years.
Co-conspirator Chante Mozley, who pled guilty to conspiracy to file fraudulent claims on January 9th, faces a possible maximum prison sentence of 10 years. She'll be sentenced on March 28th.
Sonyini Clay pled guilty to conspiracy to file fraudulent claims and aggravated identity theft on January 14th. Clay faces a possible maximum prison sentence of 12 years. Sentencing is scheduled for April 26th.
