Date: November 9, 2021 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Miami, Florida — Kevin Dewayne Kirby was sentenced yesterday in federal district court in Ft. Lauderdale to 57 months in federal prison for laundering over $500,000 connected to two wire fraud scams. The first was an IRS tax scam, which generally worked the following way: A fraudster, pretending to be from the IRS, called victims and convinced them that they owed back taxes to the IRS. The fraudster would threaten arrest and other legal action if the tax obligations were not immediately paid. Fearing the threats, victims wired their money to bank accounts that Kirby or his co-conspirators controlled. The second scam was one involving computer services, which generally worked the following way: Fraudsters, pretending to work for a fake computer service company, called victims and told them that they had to pay a fee to fix or update their computers. Alternatively, the fraudsters told the victims that the fake computer company owned them refunds. Victims allowed the fraudsters remote access to their computers, which the fraudsters used to transfer funds from the victims' savings accounts, brokerage accounts, or home equity accounts into the victims' checking accounts. During this process, the fraudsters manipulated the online appearance of the victims' accounts so that the transfers could not be seen or detected. After making the transfers, the fraudsters would contact the victims and convinced them that the fake computer company had made accidental refund payments to their checking accounts. They instructed victims on how to repay the money by wire transfer. The victims then unwittingly sent their own money (previously transferred by the fraudsters from the victims' other accounts to their checking accounts) to bank accounts that Kirby and his co-conspirators controlled. To execute the money laundering conspiracy, Kirby and his co-conspirators used bank accounts connected to eight different companies. After money was wired to these accounts, Kirby and his co-conspirators drained the funds from the accounts by wire transfers, cash withdrawals, money order purchases, and cashier check purchases. Kirby knew that the transactions were designed to conceal the nature of the proceeds. During the conspiracy, over half a million dollars was laundered. On July 22, 2021, Kirby pled guilty to two counts of money laundering conspiracy and one count of money laundering. U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith imposed Kirby's sentence. Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Acting SAC is Matthew D. Line, Acting Special Agent in Charge, IRS-Criminal Investigation, Miami; Mark H. Morini, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), Southern Field Division; and Brian Swain, Special Agent in Charge, United States Secret Service, Miami made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Deric Zacca prosecuted the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Daren Grove is handling asset forfeiture. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida or under case number 21-cr-60074.
