A Sacramento mother and her son were sentenced to federal prison on Monday for orchestrating a fake tax return scheme that defrauded the IRS out of $1.5 million in refunds.
Dominic Davis, 40, pleaded guilty to conspiring with his mother, Sharita Wright, to file multiple false tax returns. He also admitted to filing fraudulent returns on behalf of himself, family members, and friends, according to a plea agreement filed in federal court in Sacramento. Wright, 61, also pleaded guilty.
Prosecutors said the pair submitted nine false returns between 2019 and 2022, attempting to collect around $2.5 million in unearned refunds. Of that, the IRS paid out $550,000 on the returns Davis filed with Wright and another $918,000 on those he submitted alone.
The tax filings falsely claimed that Davis, Wright, and others worked for several LLCs they had created. In reality, no actual work had been done for those businesses. The returns included fabricated work records, such as W-2 forms, and large deductions for charitable donations that never happened, according to the plea agreement.
Davis prepared and submitted the tax returns, while Wright provided the necessary information and monitored refund statuses with the IRS. In 2021, she personally visited an IRS office and presented documents claiming she was owed a refund of over $407,000—which the IRS issued.
Davis was sentenced to three years and four months in prison. Wright received a 15-month sentence. Both were ordered to pay restitution, Acting U.S. Attorney Kimberly Sanchez announced in a news release.
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