IRS Criminal Investigations Report Shows Focus of Agency's Law Enforcement Side

The Internal Revenue Service has released its Criminal Investigation (CI) annual report, reflecting significant accomplishments and enforcement actions taken in fiscal year 2015. Focusing on tax-related identity theft, money laundering, public corruption, cybercrime and terrorist financing, the IRS CI initiated 3,853 cases in FY 2015.

“Our criminal investigators continue to bring complex and meaningful cases that have a significant impact on tax administration,” said John Koskinen, IRS Commissioner. “This work also plays an important deterrent effect on would-be criminals, helping ensure fairness for taxpayers and protecting voluntary compliance in our tax system. The report is a tribute to the important work done by IRS Criminal Investigation.”

“This report reflects the extremely high level of commitment that CI agents bring to the job and the great case work accomplished in the past year,” said Richard Weber, Chief, IRS Criminal Investigation. “But the story that the report tells this year is that fewer agents do mean fewer cases. I’m extremely proud of all that we accomplished in spite of our budget challenges, but the inability to hire is really taking a toll.”

The annual report is released each year for the purpose of highlighting the agency’s successes while providing a historical snapshot of the make-up and priorities of the organization. The very first Chief of IRS CI, Elmer Lincoln Irey, served from 1919 to 1946 and envisioned releasing such a document each year to showcase the agency’s work. CI is the only federal law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over federal tax crimes. This year, CI again boasted the highest conviction rate in all of federal law enforcement— 93.2%.

CI is routinely called upon by prosecutors across the country to be the lead financial investigative agency on a wide variety of financial crimes including international tax evasion, identity theft and transnational organized crime.

“While our highest priority is to enforce the nation’s tax laws, we cannot underestimate the deterrent effect we are having on would-be criminals and the impact we are having on tax administration,” said Weber. “I’m certain that a majority of Americans who follow the law would tell you that they want consequences for those who do not.”

CI investigates potential criminal violations of the Internal Revenue Code and related financial crimes in a manner to foster confidence in the tax system and compliance with the law. The 50-page report summarizes a wide variety of IRS CI activity throughout the fiscal year and includes case summaries on a range of tax crimes, money laundering, public corruption, terrorist financing and narcotics trafficking financial crimes.

The cases in this year’s report represent the diversity and complexity of CI investigations. They touch almost every part of the world and were again some of the most successful in the history of CI. In May, indictments were unsealed in the FIFA investigation, a case that continues to this day. At the time, the investigation involved coordination with police agencies and governments in 33 countries and was one of the most complicated international white-collar cases in recent memory. Ross Ulbricht, the creator and owner of the “Silk Road” website, was sentenced to life in prison and ordered to forfeit more than $183 million. A Michigan man, Dr. Farid Fata was sentenced to 540 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $17 million for his role in a health care fraud scheme. Fata purposefully misdiagnosed people with cancer, pumping their bodies with chemotherapy that they did not need, in order to get rich.

“I’m proud of IRS-CI and the reputation that this agency has as the best financial investigators in the world. We have a long and storied history and we continue to write new chapters to that history each year,” said Weber. “Regardless of our budget situation, I am proud that we have not lost sight of our impact or mission and that the quality of our cases remains high.”