A 48-year-old woman from New Mexico has pleaded guilty to impersonating an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent to cheat a victim out of more than $150,000 (around ₹ 1.4 crore).
Vega told the victim that he needed to pay various fees and deposits before the money could be released, as per her plea agreement. Vega, though, never sent the money to the tax agency and, instead, used the entire amount to cover her expenses. The final punishment and restitution amount will be decided by the court during sentencing. More than a dozen people were targeted, many of whom were struggling to pay their home loans.
Sandra Vega, a resident of Pecos, admitted that she posed as a federal tax officer between 2018 and March 2026 to convince a man, identified in court documents as John Doe, that he was entitled to receive a large payment from the IRS, according to the US justice department . Believing that the payments would be transferred to the IRS , the victim gave her at least $150,000. She faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 (around ₹ 2.2 crore) and an order to repay the victim. The court ordered him to pay approximately $199,198 in restitution to victims.
Patel was ordered to pay $8.97 million in restitution to identified victims, in addition to serving his prison sentence. He had been extradited from Singapore to the US in April 2019 to face charges in the case.
