Vanguard News Network

JERUSALEM — An American-Israeli crime ring conspired to defraud United States tax authorities of tens of millions of dollars for at least five years, according to Israeli and American court documents filed Monday.

The suspects filed thousands of fraudulent requests for tax refunds in the names of prisoners in federal penitentiaries, without the prisoners’ knowledge, according to an indictment filed in Chicago. They then laundered the money through Israeli bank accounts, the authorities said.

Two Americans and seven Israelis went to a Tel Aviv court for a hearing on Monday in connection with the case. Other Americans have been arrested in Chicago and other parts of the United States.

The man accused of leading the ring, Marvin Berkowitz, 62, fled the United States for Israel in 2003, according to the Israeli authorities, and has been living in Jerusalem.

The American indictment states that the suspects sought to get more than $35 million in federal and state income tax refunds. Israeli investigators say they have found $12 million worth of tax refunds in Israeli bank accounts controlled by Mr. Berkowitz and his accomplices.

Mr. Berkowitz is suspected of arranging at least $800,000 in tax refunds to be paid to, or for the benefit of, eight or more members of his family, including two sons who have been arrested in the United States.

Federal officials said the men had sought tax refunds using the identities of about 3,300 federal prisoners. Mr. Berkowitz, who was charged with six counts of identity theft, is suspected of recruiting and paying others to travel to federal courthouses to collect personal information about federal inmates, including Social Security numbers.

The Israeli case resulted from an undercover investigation that had lasted for months by the Israeli national fraud unit working with American authorities, the Israeli police said Monday.

Last month, 11 Israelis were arrested and accused of swindling millions of dollars by calling elderly Americans from an office in Tel Aviv and telling them they had won the lottery and had to pay a preliminary tax.