PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon man was sentenced to five years in federal prison and his brother ordered to serve probation for their roles in a $1.3 million tax fraud scheme that included gambling with stolen money.
Federal prosecutors said 47-year-old Lee Howlett was sentenced to the prison term and ordered to pay $754,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service, which had previously seized $285,000 from his bank accounts.
Prosecutors said Lee Howlett returned more than $340,000 but that money came from refunds for phony corporate tax returns and he used hundreds of thousands of dollars of the stolen money to gamble in Oregon and Las Vegas.
His 49-year-old brother, Todd Howlett, was sentenced to five years on probation for helping to carry out the scheme.
