A Ventura County tax preparer has been sentenced to ten years in prison, after federal prosecutors say he and his staff filed nearly 13,000 false tax returns that sought more than $56 million dollars in tax refunds.
Rodrigo Paul Lozano was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States. Prosecutors say he hired and trained a staff which used fake identification documents and phony tax statements to get money from an IRS refund program intended to help low income families with children. They say the fraudulent returns were in the $3,000 to $4,000 dollar range, but added up over time.
Federal investigators say Lozano, and his co-conspirators received more than $23 million dollars before the Oxnard based operation was uncovered.
In addition to the ten year prison sentence, the 61 year old man was order to pay nearly $23.1 million dollars in restitution.
