{"id":666,"date":"2018-09-05T15:14:29","date_gmt":"2018-09-05T15:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ielrblog.com\/?post_type=article&p=666"},"modified":"2018-09-05T21:16:20","modified_gmt":"2018-09-05T21:16:20","slug":"fifth-canadian-convicted-of-tax-fraud-against-the-u-s-is-sentenced","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/article\/fifth-canadian-convicted-of-tax-fraud-against-the-u-s-is-sentenced\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifth Canadian Convicted of Tax Fraud against the U.S. Is Sentenced"},"content":{"rendered":"

On August 28, 2018, U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York sentenced Daveanan Sookdeo, 46, formerly of Ontario Canada, to sixty months in prison for promoting a scheme in which Canadian citizens filed false tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that fraudulently sought approximately $10 million in income tax refunds.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

Participants in the scheme applied for and then received their tax refunds, after which they traveled to the United States where they opened bank accounts at various financial institutions to deposit the refund checks.\u00a0 The co-conspirators then sent the money to Canada by wire transfers and other means.\u00a0 The fraudulent tax returns resulted in actual losses to the U.S. government more than $3.5 million.<\/p>\n

Sookdeo charged his co-conspirators an upfront fee for the false documents employed in the scheme, as well as a percentage of any tax refunds obtained through the scheme.\u00a0 Sookdeo worked with Ronald Brekke, a co-conspirator in California, to prepare fraudulent Forms 1099-)(D that participants in the scheme attached to their false income tax returns.\u00a0 Sookdeo personally filed nine false tax returns and obtained a tax refund check in the amount of $73,662.25.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

In August 15 2017, after his arrest at his home in Debe, Trinidad and Tobago, Sookdeo agreed to the extradition request by the U.S.[3]<\/a>\u00a0 acting Attorney General Stuart Young signed a warrant of committal for Daveanan Sookdeo as his committal proceedings before acting Chief Magistrate Maria Busby-Earle-Caddle ended on August 15.<\/p>\n

Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi had signed off with the authority to proceed with the extradition after receiving the US\u2019 request on July 28. Sookdeo was arrested hours later by Sgt Herman Narace of the Interpol Bureau.<\/p>\n

When he was taken before Magistrate Busby-Earle-Caddle to start the committal proceedings on August 2, Sookdeo indicated that he was not opposed to his extradition.[4]<\/a>\u00a0 Sookdeo is a Trinidad national, Canadian citizen and US resident.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

In addition to the term of imprisonment imposed, Judge Geraci ordered Sookdeo to serve a three eyar term of supervised release and pay restitution to the IRS in the amount of $3,553,303.<\/p>\n

Sookdoe is the fifth Canadian citizen to bhe convicted, and the second to be sentenced, for his role in the scheme.<\/p>\n

In January 2016, Kevin Cyster of Burlington, Ontario was sentenced to 135 months in prison after a jury convicted him of conspiring to defraud the U.S. and commit theft of government funds, making a false claim against the U.S., and transferring stolen money in foreign commerce.\u00a0\u00a0 Cyster was convicted after a six day jury trial.\u00a0 Cyster and his co-conspirators forged IRS forms to falsely claim that almost $10 million of income had been withheld on their behalf by various Canadian financial institutions.\u00a0 They arranged for the false forms to be filed electronically with the IRS by Ronald Brekke. \u00a0Brekke is currently serving a 12 year prison sentence.<\/p>\n

Thereafter, Cyster and his co-conspirators used the false filings to file false federal income tax returns seeking refunds based on the fictitious withholding amounts.\u00a0 The IRS identified some of the fraudulent returns, but returns worth more than $3.5 million were sent to Cyster and his co-conspirators before the IRS detected the magnitude of the fraud.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

Renee Jarvis, Timothy Johnson, and Jose Compuesto, also of Canada, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the U.S. and commit theft of government funds.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

In March 2009, Johnson, 36, of Calgary, filed a fraudulent nonresident alien income tax return seeking a refund of $642,947.26.\u00a0 His return falsely claimed that the requested refund represented the amount of income taxes that had been withheld and paid to the IRS on his behalf.\u00a0 After the IRS issued the refund to Johnson, he entered the U.S. and opened a bank account in Rochester, New York to deposit the fraudulently obtained check.\u00a0 Between August 2009 and December 2011, Johnston had the funds transferred from this account to a bank account in Canada and account in the U.S. in the names of his co-conspirators.[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

The cases reveal a sophisticated scheme to defraud the IRS.\u00a0 The U.S. Department of Justice and IRS have succeeded, after spending substantial resources, in arresting and securing convictions of the perpetrators, including extraditing a Trinidad citizen from his country. \u00a0\u00a0Since the U.S. started enforcing the requirements to file Foreign Bank Account Reports (FBARs) and declare and pay taxes on a taxpayer\u2019s worldwide income, Canadians have complained about the complex web of the foreign account reporting rules and the interplay between Canadian and U.S. tax and reporting rules, especially the high penalties for taxpayers who do not comply.[9]<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite the political and diplomatic tensions, the U.S. and Canadian tax authorities cooperate closely.\u00a0 Sometimes, tax officials attend each other\u2019s enforcement meetings.\u00a0 Individuals who try to cheat the American or Canadian systems thus have a high risk of being caught, prosecuted, and harshly sentenced.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 U.S. Department of Justice, Canadian Man Sentenced to Prison for Promoting Tax Fraud Scheme<\/em>, Press Rel., Aug. 28, 2018.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Trini wanted in US for fraud agrees to extradition, Trinidad Guardian, Aug. 16, 2017 http:\/\/www.guardian.co.tt\/news\/2017-08-17\/trini-wanted-us-fraud-agrees-extradition<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Id.<\/em><\/p>\n

[5]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Trini fraudster extradited to US, Newsday, Sept. 14, 2018.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 U.S. Department of Justice, Canadian to Defraud the United States, Press Rel<\/em>., Jan. 4, 2016.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 U.S. Department of Justice, Canadian Man Sentenced to Prison for Promoting Tax Fraud Scheme, supra.<\/em><\/p>\n

[8]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 U.S. Department of Justice, Canadian Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Defraud the United States and Steal Government Funds, Press Rel<\/em>., June 14, 2017.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Robert Wood, Third Canadian Convicted in IRS Tax Refund Scam Could Face Five Years Prison<\/em>, Forbes, June 15, 2017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On August 28, 2018, U.S> District Judge Frank P. Geraci Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York sentenced Daveanan Sookdeo, 46, formerly of Ontario Canada, to sixty months in prison for promoting a scheme in which Canadian citizens filed false tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that fraudulently sought approximately $10 million in income tax refunds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"issuem_issue":[54],"class_list":{"0":"post-666","1":"article","2":"type-article","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"issuem_issue-volume-34-issue-9","7":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nFifth Canadian Convicted of Tax Fraud against the U.S. Is Sentenced | IELR Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/article\/fifth-canadian-convicted-of-tax-fraud-against-the-u-s-is-sentenced\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fifth Canadian Convicted of Tax Fraud against the U.S. Is Sentenced | IELR Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On August 28, 2018, U.S> District Judge Frank P. Geraci Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York sentenced Daveanan Sookdeo, 46, formerly of Ontario Canada, to sixty months in prison for promoting a scheme in which Canadian citizens filed false tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that fraudulently sought approximately $10 million in income tax refunds.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/article\/fifth-canadian-convicted-of-tax-fraud-against-the-u-s-is-sentenced\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"IELR Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/intlenforcementlawreporter\/?ref=bookmarks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-09-05T21:16:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ielr\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/article\\\/fifth-canadian-convicted-of-tax-fraud-against-the-u-s-is-sentenced\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/article\\\/fifth-canadian-convicted-of-tax-fraud-against-the-u-s-is-sentenced\\\/\",\"name\":\"Fifth Canadian Convicted of Tax Fraud against the U.S. Is Sentenced | IELR Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-05T15:14:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-09-05T21:16:20+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/article\\\/fifth-canadian-convicted-of-tax-fraud-against-the-u-s-is-sentenced\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/article\\\/fifth-canadian-convicted-of-tax-fraud-against-the-u-s-is-sentenced\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/article\\\/fifth-canadian-convicted-of-tax-fraud-against-the-u-s-is-sentenced\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Articles\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/article\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Fifth Canadian Convicted of Tax Fraud against the U.S. Is Sentenced\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"IELR Blog\",\"description\":\"Official Blog of the International Enforcement Law Reporter\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fifth Canadian Convicted of Tax Fraud against the U.S. Is Sentenced | IELR Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/article\/fifth-canadian-convicted-of-tax-fraud-against-the-u-s-is-sentenced\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Fifth Canadian Convicted of Tax Fraud against the U.S. Is Sentenced | IELR Blog","og_description":"On August 28, 2018, U.S> District Judge Frank P. Geraci Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York sentenced Daveanan Sookdeo, 46, formerly of Ontario Canada, to sixty months in prison for promoting a scheme in which Canadian citizens filed false tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that fraudulently sought approximately $10 million in income tax refunds.","og_url":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/article\/fifth-canadian-convicted-of-tax-fraud-against-the-u-s-is-sentenced\/","og_site_name":"IELR Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/intlenforcementlawreporter\/?ref=bookmarks","article_modified_time":"2018-09-05T21:16:20+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@ielr","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/article\/fifth-canadian-convicted-of-tax-fraud-against-the-u-s-is-sentenced\/","url":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/article\/fifth-canadian-convicted-of-tax-fraud-against-the-u-s-is-sentenced\/","name":"Fifth Canadian Convicted of Tax Fraud against the U.S. Is Sentenced | IELR Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-09-05T15:14:29+00:00","dateModified":"2018-09-05T21:16:20+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/article\/fifth-canadian-convicted-of-tax-fraud-against-the-u-s-is-sentenced\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/article\/fifth-canadian-convicted-of-tax-fraud-against-the-u-s-is-sentenced\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/article\/fifth-canadian-convicted-of-tax-fraud-against-the-u-s-is-sentenced\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Articles","item":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/article\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Fifth Canadian Convicted of Tax Fraud against the U.S. Is Sentenced"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/","name":"IELR Blog","description":"Official Blog of the International Enforcement Law Reporter","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":680,"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/666\/revisions\/680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666"},{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue?post=666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}