A former special agent with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was indicted by a federal grand jury in Sacramento Thursday on nine tax fraud charges.
Alena Aleykina, a certified public accountant and former Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation agent, is accused of claiming false filing statutes, dependents, and deductions and losses on her personal income tax returns in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Allegations in the indictment also claim that Aleykina prepared false tax returns for herself, members of her family and on behalf of trusts between 2008 and 2013. She is also accused of making false statements to representatives from the Department of the Treasury, and attempting to obstruct a federal investigation by destroying evidence on a government computer.
The former agent is also charged with fraudulently causing the IRS to issue IRS Tuition Assistance Reimbursement payments to her.
According to Aleykina’s 2009 individual income tax return (form 1040), the defendant claimed head of household, claimed three dependents, one of which was falsely claimed as her child, claimed a tuition and fees deduction of $2,000 and claimed to have paid $2,000 in qualifying educational expenses on behalf of a false dependent.
In addition to the same false claims that appeared on her 2009 return, Aleykina falsely claimed a $16,603 loss from the National Real Estate Preservation Trust on her return in 2010.
In 2011, the defendant claimed head of household and a $25,000 loss form the National Real Estate Preservation Trust, but did not claim any dependents on her individual return.
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Prosecutors allege that all of the claims, and other claims made on income tax returns for estates and trusts (form 1041) in 2010 and 2011, were known to be false at the time of filing.
Aleykina is also accused of submitting false W-7 forms on behalf of family members in order to obtain IRS Individual Tax Identification Numbers.
Together, Aleykina faces six counts of filing false income tax returns, one count of corruptly endeavoring to obstruct the internal revenue laws, once count of theft of government money and one count of destroying records during a federal investigation.
If convicted on all charges, Aleykina could spend up to 41 years in prison; statutory maximum three years for each count of filing a false tax return and corruptly endeavoring to obstruct the internal revenue laws, 10 years in prison for theft of government money and 20 years in prison for destruction of evidence.
