Former NM state tax employee sentenced to nearly 8 years for wire fraud, identity theft, money laundering

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A former New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department employee has been sentenced to nearly eight years in prison for wire fraud, identity theft and money laundering.

Federal prosecutors said 46-year-old George Martinez also was ordered by a judge Wednesday to pay more than $1.2 million in restitution.

Martinez, of Albuquerque, was given a 94-month sentence after pleading guilty in July to 42 counts each of wire fraud and identity theft and six counts of money laundering.

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George Martinez pleaded guilty in July to 42 counts each of wire fraud and identity theft. He also pleaded guilty to six counts of money laundering.

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Prosecutors said Martinez used his position as the unit supervisor/bureau chief of the Questionable Refund Unit at the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department to fraudulently alter tax refunds and direct them to bank accounts that he controlled from 2009 until July 2018.

They said Martinez copied tax returns that had already been processed or created new returns in taxpayers’ accounts.

Martinez was accused of altering information such as taxpayers’ Social Security numbers, bank account numbers and withholding amounts in the returns. By changing the withholding amounts, authorities said he increased the amounts of the refunds.