Ecuadoran Man From East Haven Gets Prison In Tax Refund Scheme: Feds

EAST HAVEN, CT — A citizen of Ecuador living in East Haven was sentenced to serve six months in a federal prison for his involvement in a tax refund fraud scheme, according to the Justice Department.

Edwin F. Gutierrez, 45, will also serve two years of supervised release following his prison term, according to U. S. Attorney for CT Vanessa Roberts Avery.

According to Avery and court documents and statements made in court, from approximately May 2013 to April 2017, Gutierrez and several other Ecuadoran nationals participated in a scheme to illegally obtain tax refunds from the IRS.

Avery described the scheme:

In order to obtain the refunds, some of Gutierrez’s co-defendants filed fraudulent federal tax returns, in the names of other foreign nationals (“claimants”), with the IRS. The fraudulent tax returns stated that the claimants resided in the U.S., earned wages from companies in the U.S., and had federal income tax withheld from the claimants’ wages. In truth, the claimants never worked for or earned income from those companies. In addition, U.S. Customs and Border Protection have no records of the claimants even being present in the U.S. during the tax years for which the returns were filed. Based on these false tax returns, the IRS issued tax refunds, which were then deposited into bank accounts that were controlled by Gutierrez and some of his co-defendants.

Through this scheme, Gutierrez and his associates obtained 142 tax refunds, totaling approximately $435,500. Gutierrez personally deposited 69 of those refunds, totaling approximately $215,460, into his own bank accounts. Gutierrez and his associates spent some proceeds for their personal use, and they wired some proceeds to relatives in Ecuador.

When sentenced Thursday, Gutierrez was also ordered to pay restitution of $215,460.

Gutierrez, who is released on bond, is required to report to prison on May 10.

On July 16, 2021, Gutierrez and three others with were arrested on an indictment charging them with various offenses stemming from this scheme. On October 12, 2022, Gutierrez pleaded guilty to theft of public money. Gutierrez’s co-defendants pleaded guilty to related charges.

This matter has been investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with the assistance of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Neeraj N. Patel.