Woman Pleads Guilty In Tax Scheme Targeting San Jose-Area Homeless, Unemployed

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA -- A San Jose woman has pleaded guilty in federal court to eight criminal charges related to a scheme to recruit homeless and unemployed people in the San Jose area to participate in filing false tax returns to obtain false refunds.

Diep Vo, 74, also known as Nancy Vo, entered the plea before U.S District Judge Beth Labson Freeman in San Jose on Monday.

She pleaded guilty to conspiring to file false claims, three counts of aiding in the filing of false claims, two counts of mail fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft.

A codefendant, Trong Nguyen, also known as John Nguyen, pleaded guilty in May to conspiring to submit and submitting false claims for refunds.

U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Abraham Simmons said evidence in the case showed that Vo recruited participants at San Jose-area homeless shelters and halfway houses by falsely promising to get them money from a government program intended for people who had not been working.

Vo had the participants give their names and social security numbers and sign a blank form. She and Nguyen then filed false tax returns claiming about $7,000 in income for each individual and said the fictitious income had been subject to tax withholding.

Having directed the refund checks to private mailboxes they controlled, Vo and Nguyen then demanded kickbacks of a portion of the refund money received by each participant, prosecutors say.

Vo is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Freeman on Nov. 14. According to Simmons, she faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison on each count of conspiring to file false claims and submitting false claims for refund, 20 years in prison for each count of mail fraud and a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison for aggravated identity theft. Vo also faces a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.

As for Nguyen, his sentencing is set for July 25.

Bay City News Service contributed to this report.

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