Philadelphia Identity Thief, Tax Fraudster Gets Prison Time​

PHILADELPHIA – A Philadelphia man will head to prison after admitting to stealing personal identification information and using it to obtain tax refunds, according to federal prosecutors.

Stephane Estelly, 30, will spend four months in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States and for aiding and abetting the filing of false claims for tax refunds, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Louis D. Lappen.

Estelly will also serve three years of supervised release and must pay $231,327.05 in restitution to the IRS.

Estelly admitted to causing a loss of nearly a quarter of a million dollars through these actions between April and August 2012. The total loss to the IRS was $231,327.05, officials said.

According to prosecutors, Estelly partook in a scheme to fraudulently obtain income tax refunds through the filing of false tax returns using stolen personal identifying information, including personal identification numbers, dates of birth, and social security numbers.

At least one of Estelly’s co-conspirators electronically filed the returns, which led to the illegally-obtained refunds to be deposited into a bank account in his name and another account in the name of "Estelly’s Bookkeeping."

Estelly did not have a tax preparation or bookkeeping service, but had opened up the accounts in order to get the refund money in his possession.

In addition to the term of prison imposed, U.S. District Judge John R. Padova ordered Estelly to

The case was investigated by Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David J. Ignall.

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