SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Phoenix Phan, age 63, of Syracuse, was sentenced yesterday to 18 months’ imprisonment and one year of supervised release for filing a false tax return for herself and aiding and abetting the filing of a false tax return for a client. Phan also was ordered to pay $890,690.67 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service. The announcement was made by United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Thomas Fattorusso, Special Agent in Charge, New York Field Office, Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).
As part of her previously entered guilty plea, Phan admitted that she failed to report gross receipts on her personal income tax returns for tax years 2013-2017. She also admitted that she aided and assisted hundreds of clients in filing false federal income tax returns during the same period, including by falsely reporting: (1) business income that the taxpayer did not earn; (2) rental losses; and/or (3) that the taxpayer had a filing status (e.g., head of household) that the taxpayer did not actually have.
This case was investigated by IRS-CI and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael D. Gadarian.