A South Florida man has received a lengthy 24-year prison sentence for a sophisticated tax fraud scheme that involved more than $10 million in phony tax refund claims.
A federal judge imposed the sentence Friday on 37-year-old Rigoberto Cabrera. He was recently convicted by a jury of 29 charges, including wire fraud, money laundering and making false claims to the Internal Revenue Service.
Testimony showed that Cabrera and others offered to prepare tax refunds for people in exchange for a percentage of their refunds. The returns would claim tax credits and deductions that the taxpayers were not entitled to receive.
Cabrera used companies and shell entities to receive the fraudulent tax refunds.
In addition to the prison time, Cabrera must pay the U.S. more than $1.5 million in restitution.
