Date: Feb. 14, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Gregory J. Haanstad, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, announced that on Feb. 9, 2024, Emilee K. Rueda of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was sentenced to 33 months’ imprisonment for wire fraud and tax offenses. According to court documents, Rueda was the office manager and in-house bookkeeper at a small business. Between September 2018 and February 2020, she made more than $650,000 in unauthorized expenditures on antique jewelry, lifelike dolls, trinkets, and other miscellaneous items, intending to resell many of these purchases. Rueda took advantage of her position of trust and made false entries into the business’s books to hide the theft, which was only uncovered after an employee’s paycheck bounced. Rueda also filed false tax returns hiding this illegal income from the Internal Revenue Service. In announcing the sentence, United States District Judge J.P. Stadtmueller emphasized the seriousness of the offense and the importance of deterring others from similar conduct. “The sentence imposed in this case reflects the substantial financial loss caused by the defendant’s fraud, the harm to all taxpayers caused by her filing of false tax returns, and the sense of betrayal felt by the victim company and its owners, who had trusted and supported the defendant,” said U.S. Attorney Haanstad. “I commend the hard work of the officers and agents who worked hard to hold the defendant accountable for her actions.” “Individuals entrusted with their employer’s finances are held to a higher ethical standard because their actions can have a significant impact on the financial health and reputation of their organization,” said Justin Campbell, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (CI), Chicago Field Office. “Because she violated the trust between her and her employer, IRS-CI special agents held her accountable for her actions. The investigation of Ms. Rueda’s misdeeds underscores IRS-CI’s commitment to enforcing a just and transparent tax system.” This case was investigated by CI and the West Milwaukee Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Farris Martini. 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. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
