On July 21, 2020, in the District of Nevada, Ladda Boonlert pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for her role in a scheme involving the impersonation of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees. Boonlert was initially charged in a 22-count indictment filed on December 10, 2019.

According to the court documents, from January 2015 through September 2017, Boonlert conspired with individuals located in India and the United States to obtain money from victims under false or fraudulent pretenses. The scheme involved coconspirators, primarily in India, pretending to be IRS employees. The coconspirators falsely told the victims they owed outstanding taxes and threatened victims with arrest if they did not make immediate payments. Because of the scheme, over 2,700 victims made more than $2.4 million in payments to the coconspirators.

Boonlert acted as a runner for the scheme, picking up victims' payments from MoneyGram, Target, and other businesses, knowing that these proceeds were the product of a fraudulent scheme. She admitted to being a leader in the conspiracy: she recruited at least 10 additional runners and directed others to recruit more.

Boonlert faces up to 20 years' imprisonment for the wire fraud conspiracy and a mandatory minimum sentence of two years' imprisonment, which must run consecutive to any other sentence of imprisonment, for the aggravated identity theft offense. In addition, she faces a maximum fine of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or gross loss, whichever is greatest; a period of supervised release of up to three years following imprisonment; special assessments of $200.00; and payment of $2,455,547.06 in restitution to the victims. Sentencing in this matter is scheduled for October 27, 2020.

Source:  The facts in this case narrative come from the following publicly available documents: D. Nev., Dock. Rep., run Jul. 24, 2020; D. Nev., Plea Agr., filed Jul. 21, 2020; and D. Nev., Indict. Filed Dec. 10, 2019.