Rochester man going to prison for COVID fraud

Summary

A press release of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of New York dated Thursday, October 12, 2023, announcing that Kenyatta Phipps, 47, of Rochester, convicted of wire fraud, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr. to 24 months in prison and restitution of $376,747.23. According to the release, after filing a 2019 return that resulted in a refund of $696, in August 2020 he tried four times to file a second 2019 federal income tax return. It was announced by U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

Press Release

Rochester man going to prison for COVID fraud

Thursday, October 12, 2023

For Immediate Release

U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of New York

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Kenyatta Phipps, 47, of Rochester, NY, who was convicted of wire fraud, was sentenced to serve 24 months in prison and pay restitution totaling $376,747.23 by U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard A. Resnick, who handled the case, stated that in February 2020, Phipps filed a federal income tax return for the tax year 2019, reporting wages and interest income of $13,273.00, which resulted in a refund of $696. In August 2020, Phipps attempted four times to file a second 2019 federal income tax return on which he falsely reported additional income he earned in the amount of $333,522 from a company he operated called Platinum Express Cleaning. If the returns were accepted Phipps would have received a fraudulent tax refund of $164,951. After all four attempts were rejected by the IRS, in September 2020, Phipps filed a fraudulent amended federal income tax return for the year 2019, which was accepted by the IRS. In the fraudulent return, Phipps falsely reported that Platinum Express Cleaning received gross receipts of $455,734 from Eastman Kodak Company and had taxes withheld from such income of more than $355,000. This resulted in Phipps receiving a fraudulent tax refund and tax loss to the IRS of $186,570.

In addition to defrauding the IRS, Phipps used information from the false tax returns to submit three fraudulent loan applications in the name of Platinum Express Cleaning to the Small Business Administration (SBA) in attempts to obtain COVID relief funding through the Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) program provided by the 2020 CARES Act. Phipps also falsely stated on the EIDL loan applications that Platinum Express Cleaning had more than 120 employees which would have qualified his company for $573,200 on EIDL program loans. Prior to funding the EIDLs program loans, the SBA discovered the fraudulent loan applications and did not fund the loans.

The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Thomas Fattorusso.

# # # #

Updated October 12, 2023

Topic

Coronavirus

Component

USAO - New York, Western

File and source

File: usao-wdny-pr-rochester-man-going-prison-covid-fraud.html
Size: 92,445 bytes
SHA-256: b1e7a86fb83a0cf15ceb4fc4d33c37a18d59965624e971055d287b720583997f
Our copy: usao-wdny-pr-rochester-man-going-prison-covid-fraud.html
Original: www.justice.gov