Man Pleads Guilty in Electronic Tax Fraud

A Van Nuys man pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to charges that he submitted phony income tax returns in a $1-million case that prosecutors said was the largest electronic tax filing fraud in Southern California.

Claudell Green, 28, of Van Nuys pleaded guilty to filing a false claim for a refund on his own behalf and to helping another individual file a false claim. He also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obtain payment of false claims for federal income tax refunds, said Lourdes G. Baird, U.S. attorney for the Central District of California.

Green was listed as one of eight defendants in a 77-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in July. Prosecutors said Green and the others filed more than 200 fraudulent tax returns that resulted in the payment of about $1 million.

The group recruited people, many of them homeless or unemployed, to use their real names and Social Security numbers on false W-2 forms created by members of the group, prosecutors said. The W-2 forms were then used as a basis for the preparation of false tax forms that were filed electronically with the Internal Revenue Service.

Daphne Thomas of Los Angeles, a former tax preparer for H&R; Block, also pleaded guilty Friday. Four others previously pleaded guilty, prosecutors said.

Green and Thomas each face a maximum sentence of 10 years and a $250,000 fine on the conspiracy charge.