Former IRS employee pleads guilty to fraudulent tax returns

Date: Nov. 13, 2024

Contact: [email protected]

Kansas City, MO - A former IRS employee pleaded guilty in federal court today to preparing fraudulent tax returns that illegally claimed more than $200,000 in refunds for her clients.

Sandra D. Mondaine of Grandview, Mo., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs to one count of aiding and abetting in the preparation and filing of false tax returns.

Mondaine previously worked for the IRS as a contact representative before retiring.

By pleading guilty today, Mondaine admitted that she prepared federal income tax returns for clients that contained false and fraudulent claims. The indictment charged her with assisting at least 11 individuals to file at least 39 false and fraudulent income tax returns for the tax years 2019 through 2021. The tax loss associated with those false returns is approximately $237,329. The parties do not agree on the total tax loss.

By including fraudulent items on her clients' tax returns, Mondaine was able to manufacture substantial refunds to her clients that they would not have been entitled to if the returns had been accurately prepared. Mondaine charged her clients a fee, which was either a fixed dollar amount and/or a percentage of the tax refund.

Under the terms of today's plea agreement, Mondaine must pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service, as determined by the court, representing the total tax loss associated with the conduct to which she is pleading guilty. Mondaine also consents to a permanent injunction in a separate civil action, under which she will be permanently enjoined from preparing, assisting in, directing or supervising the preparation or filing of federal tax returns for any person or entity other than herself.

Under federal statutes, Mondaine is subject to a sentence of up to three years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul S. Becker. It was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).

IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.