A Las Vegas man was sentenced today to 38 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States by filing false tax returns with the IRS and diverting portions of the resulting tax refunds to himself and his codefendant.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Ivan Odiaga prepared federal income tax returns at Silver State Tax & Multiservices LLC, a tax preparation business in Las Vegas owned by his mother and co-defendant, Iris Hondermann. From approximately 2017 through 2021, Odiaga and his mother prepared tax returns for clients that included one or more false items, including business profits and losses, COVID-19 sick and family leave credits, and residential energy credits. In 2020 and 2021, Odiaga prepared some of these returns using the Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) of another tax preparer without permission.
Between 2017 and 2021, Odiaga and his mother prepared false tax returns filed with the IRS seeking more than $5 million in refunds that their clients were not entitled to receive. At times, Odiaga and his mother also diverted portions of client tax refunds to themselves. From 2017 through 2021, they diverted more than $1.1 million in fraudulent tax refunds to bank accounts one or both of them controlled.
Hondermann previously pleaded guilty on Aug. 5 to one count of conspiring to defraud the United States.
Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division made the announcement.
IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.
Trial Attorney Stuart A. Wexler of the National Fraud Enforcement Division’s Tax Section prosecuted the case.
On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the Fraud Division. The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department’s work to combat fraud supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.