Information — United States v. Tiairre Travonne Chaney (Dkt. 1, D. Or.)

Summary

A one-count Information dated the 1st day of September 2015 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, Portland Division, charges Tiairre Travonne Chaney of Portland with wire fraud under Section 1343 of Title 18. It alleges that from January 6, 2011 through approximately May 3, 2011 Chaney electronically filed thirty-five fraudulent IRS Form 1040A returns that claimed fictitious dependents and fictitious wages of between $8,900 and $12,700, seeking unwarranted refunds totaling $155,670. Refunds were directed as U.S. Treasury checks or pre-paid 'stored value' cards to addresses Chaney controlled, and only part was passed to the purported taxpayers named on the returns. The charged wire is an electronic Form 1040A for 2010 sent on or about February 22, 2011 to the IRS Service Center in Fresno, California, claiming a refund of $6,878.

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FILED 1 SEP '1515:20.JSDC-t:RP
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

DISTRICT OF OREGON

PORTLAND DIVISION

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

v. INFORMATION

TIAIRRE TRAVONNE CHANEY, 18 u.s.c. § 1341

Defendant.

THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY ALLEGES:

GENERAL ALLEGATIONS

At all times relevant to this Information:

1. Defendant TIAIRRE TRAVONNE CHANEY ("CHANEY") resided in

Portland, Oregon.

2. CHANEY prepared tax returns in her own name and the names of third parties

and electronically filed them with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) via the Internet, from her

homes on Southeast Stark Street and Southeast 162nd A venue in Portland.

3. The IRS is an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury and is

responsible for enforcing and administering the tax laws of the United States, collecting taxes

owed to the United States, and issuing refunds for excessive tax payments.

4. The IRS Form 1040A Individual Income Tax Return is a preprinted form used by

individual taxpayers to report income, tax withholdings or payments, and any tax due to or

refunds due from the IRS. Form 1040A may be filed with: Schedule EiC, on which taxpayers

substantiate their eligibility for refundable tax credits for dependents in their care by identifying
,.

those dependents and describing their status; Schedule M, on which taxpayers claim eligibility

for the "Making Work Pay" refundable tax credit; and Form 8812, on which taxpayers claim

eligibility for the "Additional Child Tax Credit." When a taxpayer's total tax liability for the

year, based on his or her income minus deductible expenses (if any), is less than the sum of the

taxpayer's refundable tax credits and taxes previously withheld or otherwise paid for that year,

the taxpayer is entitled to a refund, that is, a payment from the IRS.

5. During the times relevant to this Information, the IRS routinely issued refunds to

taxpayers before verifying the accuracy of the income, expenses, dependents, withholdings and

credits claimed on their tax returns or the actual identities of persons filing the returns.

COUNTl
(Wire Fraud)
(18 u.s.c. § 1343)

I. The General Allegations in paragraphs I through 5 of this Information are re-

alleged and incorporated herein.

2. Beginning not later than January 2011 and continuing through April 2011,

defendant CHANEY devised and intended to devise a material scheme to defraud the IRS and

other victims, and to obtain money and property by means of materially false and fraudulent

pretenses, representations and promises.

SCHEME TO DEFRAUD

3. By January 6, 2011, defendant CHANEY discovered that she could cause the IRS

to issue an unwarranted tax refund to a purported taxpayer by filing a false IRS Form I 040A

claiming fictitious dependents and overstating the purported taxpayer's eligibility for refundable

tax credits.

Information Page2
4. Defendant CHANEY fraudulently increased unwarranted refunds by inflating the

number of dependents claimed by purported taxpayers, recording the names, birthdates, and

Social Security numbers of actual persons unrelated to such taxpayers on their IRS Forms

1040A, Schedules EiC, and Forms 8812.

5. Defendant CHANEY fraudulently overstated or misrepresented purported

taxpayers' earned income by recording fictitious wages, in amounts between $8,900 and

$12,700, on line 7 of the taxpayers' IRS Forms 1040A. Such levels of earned income

maximized the purported taxpayers' eligibility for refundable tax credits.

6. Defendant CHANEY directed the IRS to pay unwarranted refunds generated in

this manner by mailing U.S. Treasury checks or pre-paid "stored value" credit cards to addresses

that CHANEY directly controlled or to which she otherwise had access. CHANEY would give

only a part of the fraudulently claimed refunds to the purported taxpayers named on the false

returns.

7. From January 6, 2011, through approximately May 3, 2011, defendant CHANEY

electronically filed thirty-five fraudulent returns with the IRS, claiming for herself and others

unwarranted tax refunds totaling $155,670.

Ill

Information Page3
8. On or about February 22, 2011, in the District of Oregon, defendant TIAIRRE

TRAVONNE CHANEY, for the purposes of executing the scheme described above, caused to

be transmitted by means of wire communication in interstate commerce, to wit, from

CHANEY's residence in Portland, Oregon, to the IRS Service Center in Fresno, California, an

electronic IRS Form 1040A for the year 2010 in the name of "T_H_", claiming a fraudulent

refund of $6,878.

All in violation of Section 1343 of Title 18, United States Code.

Dated this 1st day of September 2015.

Respectfully submitted,

Information Page4

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