A Redmond man has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for stealing another's Social Security number and using it to open more than 30 bank and credit card accounts while also evading payments on a $1.1 million tax debt.
U.S. District Judge Michael J. McShane issued the sentence last week after Michael David Anastasia, 69, pleaded guilty to tax evasion and identity theft.
The judge also ordered Anastasia to pay $777, 899 in restitution. He is expected to owe additional money to the Internal Revenue Service, according to the government.
This wasn't Anastasia's first federal conviction. He was previously convicted of tax evasion in 2007 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Once released, the Internal Revenue Service filed a $1.1 million tax lien against Anastasia for failing to pay taxes between 1999 and 2006.
In November 2015, Anastasia reached an agreement with the IRS to make payments toward his debt if he received more than $4,526 a month.
Yet rather than pay his taxes, Anastasia convinced a person he lured into sending him money to direct any amount above the $4,526 monthly sum to his roommate. The roommate was instructed to withdraw the funds to allow Anastasia to conceal the payments and store the cash in a safe in his home, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Gavin W. Bruce.
Between March 2016 and September 2018, Anastasia evaded paying more than $180,000 to the IRS, according to the government.
In 2007, he also was charged with using another person's Social Security number. But that charge was dropped as part of a global plea agreement.
Yet Anastasia continued using the same stolen Social Security number once he completed his prior prison term, using it to open more than 30 bank accounts and credit cards, Bruce wrote in a sentencing memo.