Buffalo Woman Sentenced to Prison for Filing False Tax Return
A Buffalo woman has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to filing a false tax return, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Maureen Holleran, 62, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara following an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas A.C. Penrose, Holleran worked remotely as a workers' compensation claims handler for a Canada-based insurance company between 2015 and 2023. In this role, she was responsible for evaluating and authorizing claims, with the ability to approve payments up to $2,000 without supervisor approval.
Between July 2020 and June 2023, prosecutors say Holleran submitted more than 1,200 fraudulent claims, each below the approval threshold. The claims were then directed into bank accounts she controlled. To justify the payments, she allegedly fabricated expenses such as lost wages and medical reimbursements, using fictitious email accounts to sign up for the company’s client portal and input her own banking details.
In total, investigators estimate she fraudulently obtained approximately $2.37 million from the company. Of that amount, she embezzled around $1.59 million between 2020 and 2022, failing to report it on her tax returns. The IRS estimates that she owes $545,792 in unpaid taxes for those years.
The case was investigated by the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, led by Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Henry Chavis.