Date: May 3, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov New Orleans, LA — U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that Mary B. Katicich of Marrero, LA, pleaded guilty on May 1, 2024, to one count of wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343, and one count of making and subscribing a false tax return, in violation of Title 26, United States Code, Section 7206(1). According to court documents, Katicich used her position as bookkeeper with Belle Chase, LA based J&J Diving Corporation to fraudulently divert funds to her benefit from the company’s Regions Bank account. Further, Katicich willfully filed a tax return for tax year 2016 that she did not believe to be true and correct because it failed to report approximately $120,190.58 of income. Katicich faces a maximum term of twenty (20) years imprisonment for the wire fraud count and a maximum term of three (3) years imprisonment as to the tax charge. As to each count, Katicich also faces a maximum fine of $250,000.00 or the greater of twice the gross gain to the defendant or twice the gross loss to any person resulting from the offense, under Title 18, United States Code, Section 3571. In addition, Katicich faces a term of supervised release of up to three (3) years on the wire fraud count and up to one (1) year on the tax count. Each count also carries a $100 mandatory special assessment. The U.S. Attorney’s Office would like to acknowledge the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (CI), and the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Office in investigating this matter. The prosecution of this case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Benjamin Myers of the Financial Crimes Unit. 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.
