Press Release
FORMER NORTH MIAMI RESIDENTS SENTENCED IN TAX PREPARATION FRAUD SCHEME
March 12, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Daniel W. Auer, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, announced today that U.S. District Court Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga in Miami, Florida, sentenced defendants Ossmann Desir, 47, and his wife, Marie Gella Alcide, 35, pursuant to their previously entered guilty pleas for conspiring to file false tax returns with the IRS. Desir had also pled guilty to one count of aggravated identity theft. Desir was sentenced to 22 months imprisonment, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. Alcide was sentenced to 14 months imprisonment, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. In addition, Judge Altonaga ordered the defendants to pay restitution in the amount of $396,651.
In April 2008, Desir and Alcide were arrested and charged in a forty-five (45) count Indictment with conspiracy to defraud the United States, filing false claims, misusing social security numbers, and aggravated identity theft. The Indictment stated that the defendants obtained the personal identifying information of numerous individuals, including individuals who were deceased, and used this information to prepare and file fraudulent federal income tax returns in those individuals' names. As further stated in the Indictment, to execute the scheme, the defendants created false Form 1040's and W-2 Forms. Thereafter, any refunds obtained through the scheme were deposited into bank accounts controlled by one or both of the defendants. In sum, from March 2002 through April 2005, the defendants fraudulently obtained approximately $400,000 through this scheme.
According to court documents, Desir obtained much of the personal identifying information through an immigration consulting business he operated in North Miami, Florida. Because of the nature of the work that Desir did for clients, clients were requested to turn over their personal identifying information such as their names, social security numbers, dates of birth, and in some instances, the identifying information of dependants.
Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lois Foster-Steers.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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