A Sunshine State swindler is behind bars after being indicted on charges of fabricating tax returns to swindle nearly $2 million bucks from Uncle Sam, feds say.
Yolanda Dewar, hailing from Sunrise, was cuffed after a federal grand jury in Miami accused her of filing four phony tax returns from 2017 through 2021 in a bid to score refunds a trust she was involved with had no right to claim, the Justice Department reported Thursday. The indictment alleges that Dewar falsely declared the trust raking in significant dough, having dished out payments to the IRS and getting federal taxes withheld when, in fact, this was as legit as a three-dollar bill.
Dewar, who reportedly kept at it even after the taxman flagged her claims as bogus, sought refunds totaling over a cool $1.9 million, duping the IRS into paying out some $500,000. She allegedly blew through the cash on goodies like a new car for a relative, cosmetic enhancements, and home renovations like she had hit the lotto and not the taxpayer's pocket.
The accused faces a potential 12 years in the clink, three years for each count of the alleged con, if convicted. In addition, she’s staring down the possibility of supervised release, fork over restitution, and hefty monetary penalties. "An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law," reminds the Justice Department.
Miami’s top IRS sleuth Matthew D. Line and tax prosecutors Melissa S. Siskind and Kavitha Bondada, along with Assistant U.S. Attorney Deric Zacca, are on the front lines of the legal slugfest against Dewar. IRS Criminal Investigation is carrying the torch on the probe into the shady tax dealings, signaling a warning to all would-be tax cheats that crime pays until it doesn't.
