Canadian Man Sentenced to Prison for IRS Tax Fraud Scheme

According to documents filed with the court and evidence introduced at a related trial, Daveanan Sookdeo, 46, formerly of Ontario, Canada, promoted a scheme in which Canadian citizens filed false tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that fraudulently sought nearly $10 million in income tax refunds. 

After the participants in the scheme received their tax refunds, they travelled to the United States where they opened bank accounts at various financial institutions to deposit the refund checks.  The coconspirators then moved the money back to Canada by wire transfers and other means.  The fraudulent tax filings resulted in actual losses to the government of over $3.5 million dollars.

Sookdeo profited from the scheme by charging his coconspirators an upfront fee for the false documents used in the scheme, as well as a percentage of any tax refunds obtained through the scheme.  Sookdeo worked with Ronald Brekke, a coconspirator in California, to prepare fraudulent Forms 1099-OID that participants in the scheme attached to their false income tax returns. Sookdeo also personally filed nine false tax returns and obtained a tax refund check in the amount of $73,662.25.

In May 2018, Sookedo pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and to commit theft of government funds, and filing a false claim against the United States.

Sookdeo is the fifth Canadian citizen to be convicted, and the second to be sentenced, for his role in this scheme.