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Woman pleads guilty in $1M tax fraud scheme

By Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian
Published: November 10, 2016, 6:12pm

Portland — A 53-year-old Portland woman pleaded guilty this week in federal court to conspiring to file fraudulent income tax returns, claiming refunds of more than $1 million.

Lori Nicholson on Tuesday admitted that she conspired with others, including her daughter, to prepare and file more than 227 tax returns in 2010 using false wage and withholding information and claimed refunds of at least $1,039,369.

She also agreed to pay $429,269 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service. Nicholson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the government, filing a false claim and theft of government funds. She’s scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 22.

As part of the plea agreement, Nicholson admitted she conspired with co-defendants, including her daughter Jasmine Mason, and others, Tataneisha White, Shawntina Ware and Brandon Leath, to prepare and electronically file false tax returns and claim fraudulent refunds from January through October 2010.

They used fake W-2 wages and inflated withholding amounts to generate refunds of between $1,000 and $12,816, according to court documents.

Conspiracy and theft of government funds could bring a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Three of her co-defendants have already pleaded guilty to similar charges and were sentenced to prison terms ranging from two to three years. Ware is also scheduled to be sentenced in February.

Nicholson is represented by assistant federal public defender Rich Federico. U.S. Department of Justice tax division prosecutor Lori A. Hendrickson was present at the plea hearing before U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones.

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