14 DAY TRIAL // Harvey James, a man from Alabama, US, has been charged with 34 counts of mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. The man is suspected of being involved in a multi-million dollar refund fraud scheme that leveraged identities stolen from inmates.
According to the US Department of Justice, James was aided by individuals who had access to the systems of the Alabama Department of Corrections.
The fraudsters utilized inmate information to file false federal and state tax refunds.
It’s believed that over 2,000 such tax returns had been filed between 2010 and 2012 by James and his accomplices. This allowed them to fraudulently earn over $2.5 million (€1.9 million).
If convicted, James could spend 2 years in prison for each of the aggravated identity theft counts and 20 years for each of the mail fraud charges.