Date: 06-19-2018

Case Style:

Case Number: 2:16-cr-00142-JAM

Judge: John A. Mendez

Court: United States District Court for the Eastern District of California (Sacramento County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: William Frenizen, Charles O"Reilly and Arthur Ewenczyk

Defendant's Attorney: Tim Warriner

Description: Sacramento, CA - Former IRS-CI Special Agent Convicted of Filing False Tax Returns, Theft of Government Money and Obstruction of Justice

A former special agent for the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Division was convicted on June 15 after a jury in Sacramento, California found her guilty of filing false tax returns, obstruction of justice and stealing government money.

According to court documents and evidence introduced at trial, Alena Aleykina, who is also a Certified Public Accountant and holds a master’s degree in business administration, filed six false tax returns: three personal tax returns for years 2009, 2010, and 2011 and three in the names of trusts she created for years 2010 and 2011. On her personal tax returns, Aleykina fraudulently claimed the head of household filing status, false dependents, and deductions for education expenses to which she was not entitled. On her trust tax returns, she failed to report rent she received from the tenants of her rental property and falsely claimed to be paying wages to her mother and her sister to care for her son and for her father.

Additionally, Aleykina stole government funds and obstructed justice during the investigation. She stole from the IRS’s Tuition Assistance Program by falsely claiming $4,000 in tuition reimbursement for classes that she did not take. When criminal investigators approached Aleykina to retrieve her government laptop, Aleykina lied to the agents about the location of the laptop and began deleting files from the computer after the agents left. The total loss to the government from Aleykina’s conduct is more than $60,000.

Sentencing has been scheduled for Sept. 25 before Judge John A. Mendez. Aleykina faces a maximum statutory penalty of three years in prison for each false tax return count, 10 years in prison for theft of government funds, and 20 years in prison for obstruction of justice as well as a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and Acting U.S. Attorney Tse thanked special agents of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and IRS-CI, who conducted the investigation.

Additional information about the Tax Division’s enforcement efforts can be found on the division’s website.

Outcome: Guilty

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Defendant's Experts:

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