Date: March 6, 2025
Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov
Louisville, KY — A federal grand jury in Louisville, Kentucky, returned an indictment on March 4, 2025, charging a former paralegal with 8 counts of wire fraud, 3 counts of tax evasion, and 1 count of aggravated identity theft.
U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky, Special Agent in Charge Karen Wingerd of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati Field Office, and U.S. Postal Inspector in Charge Lesley Allison of the Pittsburgh Division made the announcement.
According to the indictment, Crystal Whitaker, currently of Somerset, was charged with 8 counts of wire fraud, 3 counts of tax evasion, and 1 count of aggravated identity theft, all of which occurred between March 30, 2020, and March 3, 2025. Whitaker was working as a paralegal for attorney J.R.S. at law firm SLG. when J.R.S. passed away. Whitaker then added herself to SLG’s bank accounts by concealing J.R.S.’s death. Once added to SLG’s bank accounts, Whitaker withdrew money from the accounts to make unauthorized personal purchases. Additionally, Whitaker filed a false tax return for calendar year 2020, failing to report all of the income she earned and that she embezzled. Whitaker failed to file any tax returns for calendar years 2021 and 2022.
On March 6, 2025, Whitaker made an initial court appearance before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. If convicted, Whitaker faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 2 years and a maximum sentence of 177 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
There is no parole in the federal system.
This case is being investigated by IRS-CI and the USPIS.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Ansari is prosecuting this case.
IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.