A 66-year-old Honolulu woman has been sentenced to federal prison after admitting her role in a large-scale tax-refund fraud scheme that drained more than $1.6 million from the Internal Revenue Service.
Hannah Heart was sentenced to 18 months behind bars after pleading guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and mail fraud. Federal prosecutors said Heart participated in a tightly organized operation that filed fraudulent tax returns and attempted to conceal the resulting refunds through trusts, businesses, and rapid financial transfers.
The sentencing concludes a multi-year federal investigation into a network that relied on falsified lender documents, sham trust accounts, and recruited participants to submit manipulated tax filings inflated with fake withholding claims.
According to court records, Heart acknowledged knowingly filing tax returns seeking refunds she was not entitled to receive. Prosecutors said the group created fabricated mortgage-lender forms to make it appear that large sums of taxes had already been paid, triggering substantial refund payments from the IRS.
Heart allegedly filed amended returns for 2014 and 2015 claiming refunds totaling more than $1.5 million. Once the IRS issued the funds, conspirators routed the money through trust accounts and multiple bank transfers before distributing payments to those who assisted in preparing the fraudulent filings.
The scheme was detailed in a federal indictment unsealed in 2021 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Hawaii. One of Heart’s co-defendants, Sook Young Jung, previously received a seven-month prison sentence for related offenses.
In addition to prison time, the judge ordered Heart to pay $1,618,985.54 in restitution. She will also serve a period of supervised release following her incarceration. Federal authorities say additional defendants connected to the broader fraud network have already been charged or convicted.
