A federal jury in Honolulu convicted a Hawaii couple for their roles in a nationwide tax fraud conspiracy that netted them nearly $200,000 in fraudulent IRS refunds, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Beverly Braumuller-Hawver and Scott Hawver of Ewa Beach participated in the scheme from February 2015 through November 2018, court documents show. The couple paid a promoter fees in exchange for fraudulent tax paperwork, then used those materials to file a false amended 2014 tax return.

The Hawvers attached a fabricated IRS Form 1099-MISC to their return that falsely claimed a mortgage company had paid Hawver $749,163 in income and withheld $424,163 in federal taxes, according to evidence presented at trial. The fictitious withholding claim prompted the IRS to issue the couple a tax refund of $192,845.

“The defendants made a deliberate choice to participate in a criminal conspiracy — they paid for false documents, fraudulently claimed an enormous tax refund and then spent years obstructing the IRS’s efforts to get it back,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

The jury heard evidence that the Hawvers moved quickly to hide the fraudulent refund from government recovery efforts. They deposited the U.S. Treasury check into a newly opened bank account, then transferred $170,000 within days to a separate account held by BeverlyB Music LLC, an unrelated music business they operated.

On the same day as the transfer, the Hawvers paid co-conspirators more than $70,000 from the BeverlyB Music account for their roles in the scheme, according to court documents. Braumuller-Hawver later wired $22,000 from that account to a jeweler to purchase gold and silver coins.

When the IRS began seeking to recover the fraudulent refund, the couple escalated their obstruction efforts. They sent scripted, frivolous correspondence to the IRS, filed a petition in U.S. Tax Court to thwart collection, and participated as plaintiffs in multiple frivolous civil RICO lawsuits against IRS employees, according to trial evidence.

“Co-conspirators moved the proceeds of this scheme through business entities, hid it in trusts and invested it across the country. But, every time money moves, there’s a receipt,” said Special Agent in Charge Carrie Nordyke of IRS Criminal Investigation’s Seattle Field Office.

The jury convicted both defendants of conspiring to defraud the IRS. Braumuller-Hawver also faces additional convictions for filing a false tax return and money laundering.

Both defendants are scheduled for sentencing on June 25 and face a maximum penalty of five years in prison for the conspiracy conviction, according to the Justice Department. Braumuller-Hawver faces additional maximum penalties of 10 years in prison for each count of money laundering and three years for filing a false tax return.

The convictions represent part of a broader crackdown on a nationwide tax fraud scheme that involved more than 200 participants across at least 19 states, according to federal prosecutors. The Justice Department reported that the main promoters of the scheme were sentenced in 2022.

“Schemes like this are not victimless — every dollar fraudulently paid out by the IRS is a dollar stolen from the U.S. Treasury and from the hardworking Americans who fund it,” Duva said. “The Criminal Division will deliver accountability for the American taxpayer by continuing to aggressively prosecute those who seek to defraud the IRS.”

A federal district court judge will determine the final sentences after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors, according to the Justice Department.