Two men from Florida, Jasen Harvey of Tampa and Christopher Johnson of Orlando are facing the music after a court sentenced them for orchestrating a tax refund fraud that swindled millions. According to court documents, the pair was involved in a notorious scheme dubbed the "Note Program," pushing falsified tax returns that claimed hefty but completely fabricated income tax withholdings.
From 2015 to 2018, the scheme saw Harvey and others preparing tax returns with claims of significant tax withholdings that had never been made. Clients were charged fees and, adding insult to injury, were duped into turning over a share of the non-existent refunds to the schemers. As per the U.S. Department of Justice, the operation alleged over $3 million in fraudulent refunds, succeeding in coaxing the IRS out of about $1.5 million before the racket was halted.
U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton Jr., presiding in the Middle District of Florida, passed the sentences yesterday. Harvey received a 48-month prison term, and Johnson a slightly lesser sentence of 37 months. Following their prison stay, both will undergo three years of supervised release. Johnson and Harvey, after promoting a tax fraud scheme for years, are now obliged to pay back hundreds of thousands—the former with a restitution bill totaling $864,117.42 and the latter $785,858.42 to the United States.
A third co-defendant in the case, Arthur Grimes, awaits his judgment, with sentencing marked on the January 13, 2025 calendar. While the Justice Department's acting deputy assistant attorney general, Stuart M. Goldberg, and U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg for the Middle District of Florida, were the ones to make the announcement, the case was a feather in the cap for the IRS's Criminal Investigation unit, which did the heavy lifting in the investigation. The trial attorneys Melissa Siskind, Jeffrey McLellan, Caroline Pearson of the Tax Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Hu for the Middle District of Florida are noted for prosecuting the case.
