Dr. James Francis Murphy, 51, and his wife Denine Christine Murphy, 49, from the San Diego area, ran a successful medical practice. But while Dr. Murphy was providing pain relief to his patients, he must have been sneaking toxic doses of tax relief for himself. According to the indictment, their crimes were “corrupt interference with the administration of IRS laws and presenting false claims to the United States for fraudulent income tax refunds” over a period of about 10 years.
This story illustrates the fact that there is no one demographic for those who would cheat the system by either failing to pay their fair share or by scamming the government out of money by way of false refund claims (or both). Many of the criminals as of late tend to be trafficking in stolen identities straight off the streets of Tampa, FL. But there are plenty of sophisticated “professionals” who are scam artists too.
One would expect that the more sophisticated tax criminals would engage in elaborate, complicated transactions to suppress their tax problems and make a buck, but Mr. and Mrs. Murphy preferred to keep it simple. Their master plan included the following basic components:
- hide income
- claim huge unjustifiable refunds
- pay taxes with checks that bounce
- threaten IRS employees
See full story here.
