KC Man Guilty of $2.5 Million Tax Fraud Scheme
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City, Missouri, man has been convicted in federal court of a scheme to obtain more than $2.5 million in fraudulent federal income tax refunds, in part by stealing his children’s identities.
Michael A. Kheop, 52, was found guilty at the conclusion of a one-day bench trial before U.S. Chief District Judge Beth Phillips on Monday, Dec. 2, of three counts of making false claims, two counts of mail fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
According to evidence introduced in the trial, Kheop created a fraudulent business entity in 2013. He then created fraudulent W-2 forms that contained false income and withholding in order to fraudulently claim refunds in his own name and using his three minor children’s names.
Kheop filed 12 fraudulent claims for refunds on behalf of his three minor children for tax years 2014 through 2017. He filed three fraudulent claims for refunds in his own name for tax years 2015 through 2017.
Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmo/pr/kc-man-guilty-25-million-tax-fraud-scheme