Men admit $1 million tax return scam

By Kristi E. Swartz

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The three men worked as a team, using Social Security numbers and other information from people who didn’t have enough annual income to file tax returns with the federal government.

Then Jamil Flowers, Rico Lampkin and Jason Soudemire would file their own returns – doctoring the income and the amount that had been withheld during the year – to receive more than $1 million in money from the federal government.

Flowers, 31, of Las Vegas, pleaded guilty in federal court in Atlanta Tuesday to conspiracy to defraud the government in his role in filing more than 100 bogus tax returns, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

Stoudemire, 26, of Houston, Texas, pleaded guilty on March 1.

Lampkin, 27, of Atlanta, pleaded guilty to the same charge on April 1.

“Egregious actions by individuals which result in a large number of false tax returns being submitted to the United States Treasury for their personal profit will be vigorously investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation,” said Reginael McDaniel, special agent in charge for the IRS Criminal Investigation unit.

Most of the false tax returns included a fake 1099-R form – one that shows the taxpayer had received money from a pension with the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office

Flowers, Lampkin and Stoudemire asked other people to open bank accounts to receive the tax refunds and then kept most of the money for themselves, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

A grand jury indicted the three men last June.

Flowers was charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the government, ten counts of false claims to the Internal Revenue Service, and three counts of making false and fraudulent statements to the IRS.

Lampkin and Stoudemire were each charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the government and nine counts of false claims to the IRS.

They each could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and be fined up to $250,000.