2 sentenced in Las Vegas for multimillion-dollar tax fraud

Two Las Vegas residents were sentenced to prison Wednesday for filing false tax returns in an attempt to receive millions of dollars in fraudulent refunds.

U.S. District Court Judge James Mahan sentenced Chanh Trinh to more than eight years in prison and Cannedy Trinh to two years. A third conspirator, Elizabeth Trinh, will be sentenced in May, according to a Justice Department release.

The Trinhs were found guilty of filing federal corporate and individual tax returns in the names of fake businesses, their own names and the names of others, including a dead relative, the release said. They deposited and cashed the refund checks using bank accounts or check-cashing businesses. They hid the funds by purchasing cashier’s checks and using them to get chips at casinos.

The IRS paid out more than $2 million in fraudulent tax refunds to the Trinhs, who made false claims of more than $6 million.

In addition to prison, both will serve three years of supervised release and were ordered to pay a total of about $3.5 million in restitution.

Contact Max Michor at mmichor@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0365. Follow @MaxMichor on Twitter.