Two men accused of using tax-preparing business for massive refund thefts

[Erica Absetz <erica () riskbasedsecurity com>]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/fl-id-fraud-millions-20130610,0,7173376.story

Two South Florida men were ordered held without bond Monday after
federal authorities said they have substantial evidence to link them
to millions of dollars in income tax fraud and identity theft.

Geto Dorlizier, 34, and Jourmel Thomas, 47, were arrested last week on
allegations they used their tax-preparing businesses to illegally
obtain at least $100,000 in tax refund checks.

But federal prosecutors said the two Palm Beach County men will likely
be indicted on much more serious charges, partly because Dorlizier
told undercover federal agents he cashed more than $29 million worth
of income tax checks in the past two years – mostly at a Boca Raton
check-cashing store, but also at a Delray Beach business.

"Dorlizier indicated that some of the people whose names appear on the
income tax checks are unaware that income tax returns were filed in
their names. Dorlizier also stated that he files tax returns for
clients who 'don't work for real,'" agents wrote.

Defense attorneys for the men, accused of operating a conspiracy, said
that if they're guilty of anything, it's acting as "brokers" or
"middlemen" for bigger fish.

Dorlizier was "puffing" — exaggerating what he did to make himself
seem more important or to get business, his attorney Michael Mirer
told a judge during a hearing Monday in federal court in West Palm
Beach.

Dorlizier told the undercover agents, who he thought were involved in
the alleged conspiracy, that he had purchased a six-bedroom house in
Boynton Beach's Canyon Isles for just shy of $575,000 in cash last
year, FBI Agent Daniel Szczepanski testified. Record checks showed he
did so in March, agents said, though Dorlizier's lawyer said he and
his wife used money from the sale of another home to pay for it.
Dorlizier reported he earned about $60,000 per year.

The two men were arrested Wednesday when FBI agents and Delray Beach
police swooped in on the offices of JT's Paperworks & Tax Services
inLake Worth and Atlantic Multi-Services in Delray Beach, according to
court records.

The men were arrested on allegations of conspiracy to steal money from
the United States government and forge endorsements on U.S. Treasury
checks, though prosecutors said they will take the case to a grand
jury and agents are analyzing records seized from the businesses that
indicate there may be several thousand victims and millions of dollars
in fraudulent tax return checks cashed.

Agents said they found a book on hiding assets — with a chapter on
offshore limited liability corporations bookmarked —in Dorlizier's
office, and he told them he used two banks in Haiti, apparently to
conceal money.

Thomas and Dorlizier also appeared to be running a "private lottery" –
which prosecutors said would violate state law – out of Thomas's
office. People paid cash to participate and Thomas and Dorlizier
issued cash prizes, federal proscutor Marc Osborne said.

The men's lawyers said the men, who were born in Haiti, are
naturalized U.S. citizens with strong links to Palm Beach County and
no prior criminal records. Agents said Thomas tried to flee when he
realized he was going to be arrested and led them on a low-speed chase
for several blocks — and veered into oncoming traffic — before
stopping.

Agents said a source they did not identify tipped them off in late
April that the men wanted someone to cash fraudulent income tax
checks. Undercover FBI employees met with Dorlizier and Thomas and
claimed they could cash the checks.

During the secretly recorded meeting, Dorlizier said that in future
conversations they should use the code words "candles" or "candle
lights" to refer to the fraudulent income tax checks.

Agents said Dorlizier told them he sometimes filed income tax returns
for people he called "basers," or drug addicts, by paying the person a
fee, using their information to seek an inflated tax refund for a few
thousand dollars and pocketing the difference, agents wrote in court
records.

In May, the two men turned over several tens of thousands of dollars
worth of refund checks with copies of fake or altered Florida driver's
licenses or Social Security numbers and forged signatures on some of
the checks, agents wrote. Thomas told them he could provide fake
driver's licenses for $550 each, prosecutors told the judge.

U.S. Magistrate Judge James Hopkins said it seemed "highly likely" the
defendants would be facing more serious charges and ordered them
imprisoned with no bond, saying they were a flight risk and a danger
to the community.

"This is a huge problem facing our community right now," Hopkins said.
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