SACRAMENTO - A federal jury convicted Vallejo couple Marty Marciano Boone, 57, and Ronda Boone, 56, on Thursday for conspiring to launder $2 million that they received after filing fraudulent tax returns, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.
Marty Boone was found guilty of one count of filing a false tax return, one count of conspiring to commit money laundering, and two counts of money laundering. Ronda Boone was found guilty of one count of conspiring to commit money laundering and two counts of money laundering.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, the couple filed separate 2008 tax returns, each of which fraudulently claimed millions of dollars in refunds. The IRS flagged Ronda Boone’s tax return, did not pay her, and fined her $5,000. However, Marty Boone received a fraudulent tax refund of more than $1.9 million.
Evidence showed that the Boones received this check in August 2009, deposited it in a new checking account, and then quickly drained the account. They moved the funds through a series of other accounts in New York, California, Washington, and the nation of Cyprus. The Boones funneled more than $200,000 of this money to a “church” they had set up in Washington state.
Evidence at trial established that this money was spent at a Harley Davidson motorcycle shop, in nail salons, and on other seeming everyday expenses, such as groceries and gas. The Boones laundered another $100,000 of their fraud money through a shell company they established in Cyprus.
This case is the product of an investigation by the IRS Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew M. Yelovich and Amanda Beck are prosecuting the case.
Both defendants are scheduled to be sentenced on May 9, 2019. They face a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine equal to $250,000, or twice the amount of the criminally derived property, whichever is greater. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
