New Bedford tax preparer pleads guilty to filing false tax returns for fraudulent refunds

BOSTON. A New Bedford woman pleaded guilty Dec. 3 to stealing federal funds by filing false tax returns to obtain fraudulent tax refunds from the Internal Revenue Service.

According to a press release, 50-year-old Valentina Martinez pleaded guilty to five counts of theft of public money. Senior US District Judge Patti B. Saris set sentencing for March 6, 2025.

According to court documents, Martinez worked for the National Tax Preparation Service. After preparing reports for clients and providing them with copies of their reports, Martinez added fraudulent business deduction claims to the clients’ reports without their knowledge and filed false reports electronically to obtain fraudulent refunds.

Florida Vacation Debit Card Refund

Martinez caused the tax refunds to be transferred to debit cards she used to make ATM withdrawals, as well as to pay for a Florida vacation and other purchases. Martinez’s scheme was discovered and she was fired when a taxpayer client complained to the preparer about the lack of refunds. By then, Martinez had already filed at least 12 false returns and caused more than $45,000 in losses to the IRS.

Martinez’s prosecution is part of the Stolen Identity Refund Project, a program administered by the IRS to identify tax preparers who use stolen identities to steal money from the United States Treasury by filing false tax returns claiming tax refunds without the named taxpayer’s knowledge.

The maximum potential punishment is 10 years in prison

The theft of public money charge carries a maximum potential sentence of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine and restitution to the IRS.

Sentencing is determined by a federal district court judge based on the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Jonathan Wlodyka, acting special agent in charge of criminal investigations for the Internal Revenue Service’s Boston office, made the announcement Monday. Assistant United States Attorney Victor A. Wilde of the Securities, Financial and Cyber ​​Fraud Division is prosecuting the case.

This article originally appeared in the Standard-Times: A New Bedford woman is guilty of 5 counts of theft of public money