IRS-CI reveals top 10 criminal tax cases of 2025

The top 10 criminal tax cases of 2025

December 26, 2025 11:35 AM

The IRS Criminal Investigation unit cited its top cases that led to multiyear prison sentences and multimillion-dollar financial settlements for tax crimes.

"Financial trails are criminals' downfall," said IRS-CI chief Guy Ficco in a statement. "This year's top 10 cases demonstrate how following the money exposed public corruption, complex tax and cyber schemes, and pandemic-era fraud, enabling us to hold criminals accountable for millions in illicit gains,"

The top 10 cases of 2025 include:

10. Bribery scheme involving $10M+ in COVID funds

A sign reminding people to social distance stands at Louis Armstrong Park in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., on Wednesday, July 15, 2020. Many places that suffered most in the first wave of coronavirus infections including Louisiana are seeing case counts climb again after months of declines. Photographer: Sophia Germer/Bloomberg

Andrew Hoang Do, a former politician who served on California's Orange County Board of Supervisors was sentenced in June 2025 to 60 months in federal prison for accepting more than $550,000 in bribes for directing and voting in favor of more than $10 million in COVID-19 pandemic relief funds to a charity affiliated with one of his daughters.

9. Former casino AP manager sentenced

In October, a former casino accounts payable manager in Oklahoma was sentenced to almost eight years in prison and ordered to pay over $17 million in restitution to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, plus over $8 million in restitution to the IRS. While serving as a manager for the Muscogee Nation Gaming Enterprises LLC, Michael Anthony Houser embezzled and obtained by fraud over $24 million from the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. He knowingly filed false tax returns with the IRS where he underreported his income by failing to disclose the stolen proceeds to the IRS.

8. Sentenced for $38M catalytic converter theft ring

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Tou Sue Vang of Sacramento, California, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for trafficking thousands of stolen catalytic converters, money laundering and related crimes. Alongside his brother and mother, Vang bought stolen converters from California thieves and sold them to DG Auto in New Jersey for more than $38 million. The scheme targeted high-value converters, such as those from Toyota Prius vehicles, and operated without a business license from private homes and storage units.

Vang used proceeds to fund a lavish lifestyle, including cash purchases of real estate, vehicles and luxury items; authorities have since seized much of this property.

The case is part of a national crackdown on catalytic converter theft, involving 15 defendants across California and New Jersey, and was investigated by IRS-CI and law enforcement partners.

7. Tens of thousands of false tax returns

Rafael Alvarez was sentenced to four years in prison after filing tens of thousands of false tax returns resulting in $145 million in fraudulent tax losses to the IRS. In addition to his sentence, Alvarez was ordered to pay the IRS $145 million in restitution and forfeit over $11.84 million in fraudulent proceeds.

Alvarez was the CEO, owner and manager of ATAX New York LLC. ATAX was a high-volume tax preparation company located in the Bronx, New York, and prepared approximately 90,000 federal income tax returns for its customers. Alvarez both prepared tax returns for ATAX customers and recruited, supervised and directed other ATAX personnel to prepare fraudulent tax returns for customers. He was so consistent at falsifying customer tax returns that he became known to customers as "the Magician." Alvarez's operation of ATAX helped the company generate approximately $12 million in fraudulent proceeds over the duration of the fraud.

6. County treasurer gets 10 years in prison

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Elizabeth Gutfahr was sentenced to 120 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $51.8 million in restitution to Arizona's Santa Cruz County and the U.S. Treasury. From 2012 through 2024, Gutfahr, who served as treasurer of Santa Cruz County in Arizona, embezzled and laundered approximately $38.7 million by wiring public funds from the county's account to accounts in the names of fake companies she created that performed no legitimate business.

Her scheme involved 187 wire transfers, undermining the county's required two-step approval process. Using the token of a subordinate county employee, she both initiated and approved the wire transfers. To cover up the scheme, she falsified accounting records, cash reconciliation records and reports of the county's investment accounts, hiding the millions of dollars she stole. She also failed to report any of the stolen funds as income for tax purposes.

5. Former helicopter company CEO sentenced

John Walker, the former CEO of Guam-based Hansen Helicopters Inc., was sentenced to 405 months in federal prison and ordered to forfeit $58.4 million. Walker used co-conspirators, shell companies, employees, contractors, and nominees to operate an illicit helicopter business from Guam.

Concealing the fact that his aircraft were unregistered, illegally registered and not airworthy, Walker earned over $400 million dollars through his scheme. The scheme resulted in at least 38 accidents or incidents, including at least eight serious bodily injuries and 10 deaths.

4. 20 years for money laundering

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Rahool Amin Makani of Dallas, Texas was sentenced in July to 20 years in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution for defrauding numerous individuals out of more than $14 million. Makani was a multimillion-dollar money launderer who conned victims into investing large amounts of cash into fictitious businesses. Makani used a variety of schemes to defraud numerous investors. He then used the money he fraudulently obtained to maintain a lavish lifestyle, including Rolex watches, luxury cars, gambling and leasing private jets.

3. IT worker fraud scheme made money for North Korea

Kim Jong Un, North Korea's leader, attends the inter-Korean summit at the Peace House in the village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Paju, South Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un

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Christina Marie Chapman of Arizona was sentenced in July to 102 months in prison for running a $17 million remote worker scheme that generated revenue for herself and North Korea. She allowed remote workers with links to North Korea to pose as U.S. employees so they could illegally gain employment at more than 300 American companies. She stole the identities of around 70 U.S. citizens and submitted false information to federal agencies as part of the scheme.

2. Crypto-mixing service founders sentenced to prison

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Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, the co-founders of Samourai Wallet, a cryptocurrency mixer that facilitated over $237 million in illegal transactions, were sentenced in November 2025 to five and four years in prison, respectively.

Rodriguez, the chief executive officer of Samourai, and Hill, the chief technology officer, participated in a conspiracy to operate a money transmitting business in which they knowingly transmitted criminal proceeds. The over $237 million of criminal proceeds laundered through Samourai came from various sources, including drug trafficking, darknet marketplaces, cyber-intrusions, fraud, sanctioned jurisdictions, murder-for-hire schemes and a child pornography website.

1. Charity fraud scheme leaders sentenced to prison

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This year, several defendants in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme were sentenced. The scheme — one of the largest pandemic-related fraud cases in U.S. history — involved the theft of more than $250 million in federal child-nutrition funds intended to feed low-income children. Two scheme leaders — Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff and Abdiaziz Shafii Farah — were sentenced to 17.5 years in prison in January 2025 and 28 years in prison in August 2025, respectively.