ORLANDO, Fla. – The case of two Orange County women convicted of a four-year multimillion-dollar tax fraud conspiracy was highlighted by the Internal Revenue Service as a one of the most high-profile investigations of 2021.
According to a federal indictment, sisters Petra Gomez and Jakeline Lumucso submitted more than 16,000 false tax returns using the personal information of previous clients from 2012 to 2016.
To conceal the fraud, investigators say the women created five different e-file tax preparation companies across Orange and Seminole Counties including “Universal Tax LLC,” “Universal Financial Inc” and “Resurrection Tax”. In some cases, authorities say they opened the companies in the names of other people.
As part of their business, court documents show the sisters charged fees for filing Individual Identification Numbers applications, which are issued by the IRS to undocumented people who worked in the U.S.
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Court documents show Gomez and Lumusco used the nearly $25 million in fraudulent tax refunds to purchase luxury custom-built homes, vehicles and vacations.
