Page 3 - 6-23-15 Tuesday's Edition

Features
Man To Serve 27 Years, Repay $1,820,759 In Tax Fraud Case
Businessman
A 35-year-old Tampa man was sentenced to a lengthy prison term and ordered to pay over a million in restitu- tion last Friday.
U. S. District Judge Charlene Honeywell sen- tenced James Lee Cobb, III, to 27 years in federal prison. The prison sentence is to be followed by 5 years of supervised release.
According to court docu- ments, Cobb pleaded guilty to the charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and for being a felon in possession of a firearm as an armed career criminal, on December 1, 2014.
As part of his sentence, the Court also entered a forfei- ture money judgment of $1,820,759. The Court also entered an order of restitu- tion of $1,820,759.
Court documents show that Cobb conspired with others to use more than 7,000 stolen names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers to file false income tax returns and open pre-
officers recovered lists and medical records containing personal identifying infor- mation of more than 7,000 victims. The personal infor- mation of some of the vic- tims was stolen from healthcare facilities, includ- ing the James A. Haley Vet- eran’s Hospital, and the Florida Hospital, (formerly University Community Hos- pital). Other identifying in- formation was stolen from ambulance services in Vir- ginia, Georgia, and Texas, a local medical billing com- pany, and court records.
Additionally, the suspects obtained information of de- ceased individuals from ge- nealogy websites.
During the execution of the search warrant, law en- forcement found two guns in the residence. One of the guns was a loaded handgun and the other was an AR-15 style rifle with a fully loaded, 30-round magazine.
At the time of the offense, Cobb was on supervised re- lease from a prior federal conviction. He was arrested on November 6, 2013.
Receiving Stolen
Convicted Of
Tax Fraud Checks
JAMES LEE COBB, III ... Sentenced to
27 years in prison
paid debit cards. He also ob- tained “burner” phones using stolen identities.
At some undetermined date in 2011 and continuing until November 2013, Cobb and his co-conspirators filed false income tax returns claiming approximately $3 million in refunds.
During the execution of a search warrant at Cobb’s residence, law enforcement
A 51-year-old Tampa busi- nessman is facing up to 50 years in federal prison.
Charvester Darryl Anthony was convicted of 5 counts of receiving stolen government property. An- thony was indicted on Feb- ruary 13, 2014. He was found guilty by a federal jury last Thursday.
According to testimony presented during his trial, Anthony owned and oper- ated two restaurants, known as “The Best” Restaurants, one of which was located on N. 40th Street, near Hills- borough Avenue.
Testimony presented dur- ing the trial said Anthony was also serving as a fencing operation by cashing checks that were the result of fraud- ulent income tax returns. Anthony would then de- posit them into his business and personal bank accounts.
Most of the refund checks were obtained from income tax refunds filed using stolen identities. All of the checks
CHARVESTER DARRYL ANTHONY ... Facing 50 years
also bore forged signatures. According to the evidence presented at trial, Anthony reportedly knew that the checks were stolen when he cashed them, and conse- quently charged huge fees for
cashing the checks. Anthony is scheduled to
be sentenced on September 18, 2015.
Man Pleads Guilty To Theft of $755,900 In Tax Refund Checks
A man accepted a plea agreement and pleaded guilty to theft of government funds last week. He is facing a maximum of 10 years in federal prison.
According to the plea agreement, between April 2011 and March 2013, Sylvester Banks, Jr., of Clearwater, received and de- posited into his bank account approximately $755,900 in U. S. Treasury and other checks. All of the checks were in the names of other indi- viduals.
The checks were income
tax refund checks that were the result of numerous false and fraudulently filed in- come tax returns.
During the interview with federal agents in February 2015, Banks acknowledged that he had realized that the checks were proceeds gained from filing fraudulent in- come tax refunds. He also admitted that he knew it was unlawful for him to receive and deposit the checks into his own account.
A sentencing date for Banks has not been sched- uled, officials said.
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