Defendant caused IRS to pay nearly 500,000 dollars in fraudulent refunds Date: March 14, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov A New York woman was sentenced today to 33 months in prison for filing false tax returns and obstructing the IRS. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Ehrenfriede Kauapirura, a hospital dietician, sought to obtain tax refunds to which she was not entitled. As part of that scheme, Kauapirura filed a false amended 2015 tax return and a false 2016 tax return. On both returns, Kauapirura reported hundreds of thousands of dollars in fictitious tax withholdings that she used to claim refunds of approximately $250,000 for each year, which the IRS paid her. After determining that Kauapirura’s claims were fraudulent, the IRS attempted to recoup the money. To thwart the IRS’ collection efforts, Kauapirura transferred funds from her personal bank account to a bank account in the name of a purported trust that she controlled. Kauapirura also submitted to the IRS a $1 million check drawn on a non-existent bank as payment of her tax obligations. In addition, despite earning substantial income from her job at the hospital, Kauapirura did not file individual tax returns for tax years 2017 through 2020. In addition to her prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Diane Gujarati for the Eastern District of New York ordered Kauapirura to serve one year of supervised release and to pay $301,462.41 in restitution to the United States. Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement. IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case. Trial Attorneys Kenneth C. Vert and Michael C. Vasiliadis of the Tax Division prosecuted the case.
