Philly Man Admits To Stolen Identity Tax Return Scheme

Philadelphia PA

05 May, 2022

10:15 AM

Description

PHILADELPHIA — Federal authorities said a Philadelphia man admitted in court to using stolen identities for bogus tax returns and sending the money to Russians. Stanuslav Lukyantsev, 34, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Kyrgyzstan, pleaded to participating in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud from Jan. 1, 2015, to March 1, 2018. Lukyantsev admitted that his co-conspirators in Russia filed fraudulent federal income tax returns using stolen identities. The tax returns claimed fraudulent refunds, which were deposited into accounts controlled by the conspirators at several banks in the United States. After fraudulent refunds were deposited into their accounts, conspirators went to ATMs and withdrew the proceeds of their fraudulent scheme in cash. They deposited the cash into other bank accounts and wire transferred much of the proceeds to Russia. Lukyantsev maintained accounts at three different banks for this purpose. Authorities said they filed 7,167 false and fraudulent tax returns for the tax years 2011 to 2016. The returns claimed $11,178,361 in fraudulent refunds. The Internal Revenue Service paid at least $2,020,569 in fraudulent tax refunds, of which conspirators wire transferred at least $1,411,082 to bank accounts in Russia. By pleading guilty today, Lukyantsev admitted that he obtained $10,000 from the proceeds of the fraud scheme, which must be forfeited to the government. Lukyantsev faces up to 20 years in federal prison without parole.