BEAVERCREEK — A man has learned his punishment for his role in a multimillion-dollar tax refund fraud scheme.
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A federal judge sentenced Christopher Dowtin, 49, of Georgia, to three years in prison.
Dowtin was found guilty of wire fraud and theft of public funds, according to a spokesperson with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Ohio.
Dowtin fraudulently converted two businesses’ IRS accounts to his name and address.
He then received tax refund checks, which were paid out to these businesses.
One of the refunds was for more than $32 million.
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The IRS reportedly processed eight Change of Address or Responsible Party-business forms in Dec. 2024 for the two companies.
When the requests were completed, Dowtin received two tax refund checks for those companies.
Dowtin took the checks to a Morgan Stanley Office in Beavercreek and “attempted to negotiate the funds into a brokerage account in a trust in his name,” the spokesperson said.
“The affidavit details that Dowtin told the Morgan Stanley financial advisor that the two companies were paying him for illegally using his ‘personhood.’ He said the payments owed to him had been transferred to him from the IRS. The financial advisor verified that the checks were valid U.S. Treasury checks,” the spokesperson added.
Morgan Stanley contacted the Secret Service and IRS regarding both the suspicious nature of the checks and Dowtin’s supporting paperwork in February 2025.
Law enforcement seized the checks, and Dowtin was arrested in April 2025.
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