Date: April 2, 2025
Contact: [email protected]
Phoenix, AZ — Jackie Marie Peters of Mansfield, Texas, was sentenced on March 31, 2025, by United States District Judge G. Murray Snow to 18 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Peters previously pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Defraud.
From approximately January 2020 through April 2022, Peters’s co-conspirators hacked into an Arizona tax-preparer firm’s computer network and modified in-progress tax documents for more than 40 individuals without their knowledge or the knowledge of the firm. Peters then opened 10 bank accounts at different banks, and numerous tax refunds based upon the modified tax documents were deposited into those accounts. Peters ultimately transferred more than $2.5 million from the accounts that received fraudulent tax refunds to purchase cryptocurrency.
The IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Phoenix Field Office conducted the investigation in this case. The United States Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, Phoenix, handled the prosecution.
IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.