A husband and wife Friday pleaded guilty in a Georgia district court for their roles in the May 2015 IRS “Get Transcript” breach that compromised nearly 700,000 taxpayer accounts.
Anthony Alika, 42, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering while his wife Sonia Alika, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of illegally structuring cash withdrawals to evade bank reporting requirements, according to a Department of Justice (DoJ) press release.
Authorizes said the couple worked with others to obtain personal information needed to break into the IRS “Get Transcript” database in order to file fraudulent returns using the identities stolen from the database.
In January 2016, the two were charged with laundering the proceeds from the scam onto prepaid debit cards registered in victims' names.
The couple is scheduled to be sentenced on July 27. If convicted, Anthony faces 20 years while Sonia faces 10 years in prison.
