Zim man jailed in US for tax fraud

TEXAS - Cephas Msipa, a Zimbabwean national living in the United States, was on Wednesday sentenced to three years and 10 months in federal prison, and ordered to pay $118 139 in restitution over his role in a tax refund fraud scheme.

However, his namesake former Midlands governor Cephas George Msipa yesterday distanced himself from the convict.

"It's just a coincidence that we share similar names, but I am not related to that man. In fact, the truth is I don't have any child based in the US," Msipa told NewsDay on Friday.

The sentence was announced by US attorney Sarah R Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas following investigations by the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Criminal Investigation, and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Msipa, who resided in Plano, Texas, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy. He had been in federal custody since his arrest on an indictment in November 2012.
In the February 26 hearing, US District judge Ed Kinkeade stated that Msipa would be deported back to Zimbabwe after serving his prison sentence.

Msipa admitted that between January andl June 2012, he was involved in a conspiracy to obtain tax refunds that were generated by submitting fraudulent tax returns.

For his part in the conspiracy, Msipa opened bank accounts, using a false name in order to receive the refunds from the fraudulently filed tax returns.

Msipa used a forged United Kingdom passport to establish a private mail box at a postal store on Preston Road in Dallas.

Thereafter, he used this false name, and the address of the mail box, to open three accounts at Bank of America and two accounts at Chase Bank.

During this time frame, co-conspirators electronically filed about 105 fraudulent tax returns using stolen identities and false income information that directed the IRS to deposit a total of $118 139 in refunds into accounts Msipa opened.