SOUTH JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — Federal authorities say two women in New Jersey are guilty of tax fraud. According to New Jersey U.S. Attorney Philip Selinger, the two cases are unrelated.
Selinger says 61-year-old Lori Andrews of Voorhees stole 700 checks and money orders from her employer, a property management office in Philadelphia, from 2011 to 2018. Andrews admitted to depositing the money into a bank account created with a fake Social Security number.
Andrews also failed to claim the $2.7 million she stole as income. She admitted to using the money for personal expenses and now faces tax fraud and other charges.
Michele Griffin, 42, of Galloway was working as a tax preparer from 2013 to 2016, when she filed a total of 19 bogus tax returns, says Selinger. She will spend a year and a day in prison for using false information to increase tax refunds by $135,000 for herself and her clients.
She was ordered to pay back all of that money.