Feds Charge Ten Virgin Islands Women With Tax Fraud, Identity Theft

ST. CROIX — The federal government has charged ten Virgin Islands women with conspiracy to defraud the United States, theft of government property and aggravated identity theft, a indicting court document has revealed. The women are either relatives or friends, according to the document, and six of them were advised of their rights on Wednesday at the District Court here.

The ten women are accused of using sham IDs to file federal tax returns, and in the process receiving over $300,000 in refunds. The women charged are Joanne V. Benjamin, Sylvia P. Benjamin, Lynell Hughes, Thema Liverpool, Jaccinta A. Gussie, Indica Greenidge, Nisha Brathwaite, Darleen Thompson, Nicolette Alexander and Sheba Rashida Young.

According to the indictment, Joanne V. Benjamin and Sylvia P. Benjamin are sisters; Jaccinta A. Gussie is the mother of Thema Liverpool; and Darleen Thompson is Joanne V. Benjamin’s sister-in-law.

The alleged plot involved acquiring personal information for multiple persons, including some who knew of the scheme and others who did not. The illegal plan also entailed the acquiring of bank and debit card numbers for the deposit of the illegally obtained tax refunds; the illegal withdrawing thereof, and filing multiple tax returns.

The indictment alleges that the women acquired the personal identification for the unnamed individuals for tax years 2011 and 2012. Other personal information obtained included Social Security numbers, dates of birth and names, according to the indictment.