A man who had been living in Atlanta illegally was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison for fraudulently filing tax returns using stolen identities, U.S. Attorney B.J. Pak said in a news release.
Vladimir Pierre — also known as Jimmy Valentine — pleaded guilty to theft of government funds and aggravated identity theft in May, according to the release.
Following his prison term, Pierre, 39, of Montreal, Canada, will be on three years supervised release. He must also pay $341,996 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service. Pierre will also be removed from the U.S. to Canada.
“These schemes can be a nightmare for citizens who must endure the process of repairing their credit and IRS returns, citizens are wise to regularly monitor their credit reports for fraud,” Pak said.
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Between January 2015 and April 2018, Pierre filed more than 150 fraudulent returns using stolen identities, seeking more than $1 million in refunds, according to the release.
Federal authorities said Pierre took intricate steps to conceal his scheme: he advertised his tax services under a fictitious name; used electronic filing identification numbers and preparer tax identification numbers in the names of others to file returns; and obtained a tax preparation product using a stolen identity.
During his plea, Pierre also admitted his scheme cost more than $340,000 in losses to the federal government, officials said. He was arrested in December. At the time, Pierre was illegally living in Atlanta.
“Pierre demonstrated a blatant disregard of the integrity of the United States tax system and caused immeasurable hardship to innocent victims,” said Atlanta Field Office Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Holloman III.
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