Date: June 12, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov BOSTON — A Queens, N.Y. man was arrested today in connection with an alleged scheme to steal over $3 million in COVID relief tax credits using the stolen identity of a corporate executive in New Jersey. Linval Jackson was charged by complaint with bank fraud, bank fraud conspiracy, and aggravated identity theft. Following an initial appearance in the District of Connecticut, Jackson was detained pending a hearing scheduled for July 15, 2024. He will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date. Jackson’s alleged co-conspirator, Isaiah Aaron Tenryk, was previously arrested and charged by a separate criminal complaint in May 2024. He was subsequently released on conditions. According to the charging documents, Jackson and Tenryk allegedly used a fraudulent driver’s license as well as the name and Social Security number of a corporate executive in New Jersey to open a bank account in Boston. Tenryk then allegedly deposited an approximately $3 million Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) check payable to the executive’s company into the fraudulent account. ERTC is a refundable tax credit for certain eligible businesses that had employees and were adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. After the check was deposited, Jackson allegedly attempted to link the fraudulent account to other bank accounts he controlled to transfer the stolen money. The charges of bank fraud and bank fraud conspiracy each provide for a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, five years of supervised release and a fine of up to $1 million. The charge of aggravated identity theft provides for a mandatory two-year sentence in prison to be served consecutive to any sentence imposed, one year of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case. Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy; Harry Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS CI), Boston Field Office; and Ketty Larco Ward, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston Division made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kriss Basil of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit is prosecuting the case. The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. 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.
