On May 3, 2021, in the Central District of California, Edgardo Montalban was sentenced for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Montalban devised a scheme to defraud taxpayers of their money. On November 13, 2020, Montalban was charged with aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

According to the court documents, beginning in or before 2013 and continuing through September 2020, Montalban presented himself as an accountant and tax preparer and instructed his clients to invest in a nonexistent Federal grant program. Montalban told his clients that if they paid him in cash the amount of taxes their dormant companies owed, the Federal Government would issue, to them, grants many times larger. Montalban used counterfeit U.S. Treasury checks as props to entice and obtain cash from his clients. After Montalban had his clients pay him, he made up excuses as to why their Treasury checks had been delayed, and tricked clients into paying him more money to receive the non-existent checks. Montalban defrauded his clients out of approximately $4,000,000.

Montalban was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment, ordered to pay $4,710,400 in restitution, a $100 assessment fee, and three years of supervised release.

Source:  The facts in this case narrative come from the following publicly available documents: C.D. Cal., Information, November 13, 2020; and C.D. Cal., J., May 5, 2021.