Restitution hearing set for former Roswell escrow company owner convicted of fraud scheme

 

Date: Aug. 21, 2024

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

ALBUQUERQUE — A restitution hearing has been scheduled for former Roswell Escrow Services, Inc. owner Christopher Adam Jensen-Tanner.

The hearing will take place on Sept. 18, 2024, at 1:30 PM at the U. S. Courthouse located at 100 N. Church Street, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88001.

Jensen-Tanner was previously sentenced to 46-months in prison for wire fraud on July 25, 2024.

This hearing will provide an opportunity for all parties involved to discuss and determine the restitution amounts owed in connection with the recent case.

Jensen-Tanner admitted in his plea agreement that from January 2017 through October 2019, while owning and operating Roswell Escrow Services, Inc., he engaged in a scheme to defraud clients by making false representations. The business involved holding clients' funds for 1031 exchanges and servicing real estate contracts. Jensen-Tanner misrepresented how these funds would be held or spent and used them for personal purposes on numerous occasions.

If you are a victim or potential victim and would like to attend the hearing, please contact Victim Specialist Jacquie Gutierrez at 575-522-2304 before the date of the hearing for more information.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Mexico are seeking individuals who may have been victims of a wire fraud scheme involving Jensen-Tanner and Roswell Escrow Services, Inc. (RES) between January 2017 and October 2019.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS CI) and the Roswell Division of the FBI investigated this case with assistance from the Securities and Financial Institutions Divisions of the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Ry Ellison and Richard Williams are prosecuting the case.

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.