A Bakersfield accountant is heading to prison for his role in a major federal tax return fraud scheme.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that Victor Cruz, 41, was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Driving the news: The scheme involved Mexican national Miguel Martinez, who was living in the U.S. illegally. • From November 2019 to June 2023, Martinez led a scheme to file thousands of fraudulent tax returns and claimed millions of dollars in refunds. • He created fake businesses that reported phony wages paid to the IRS, as well as fake withholding information for supposed employees. Martinez filed thousands of individual income tax returns in the names of the supposed employees. • Crus helped Martinez with the scheme by preparing and filing more than 500 of the fraudule

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