Hawaii woman sentenced to 27 months in tax refund fraud scheme

Date: Jan. 29, 2026

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

HONOLULU – United States Attorney Ken Sorenson announced that Brigida Chock of Ewa Beach, a Filipino national and Hawaii resident, was sentenced today in federal court by Senior United States District Judge J. Michael Seabright to 27 months in prison to be followed by 3 years of supervised release for conspiring to defraud the IRS by fraudulently obtaining a tax refund and then thwarting efforts to recoup it. Chock was also ordered to pay $39,791.76 in restitution. Chock pled guilty pursuant to a plea agreement on March 16, 2023.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Chock filed an amended 2014 tax return with a false Form 1099-MISC attached, claiming false income and withholding amounts. The fraudulent tax return caused the Treasury to issue a refund that Chock was not entitled to receive. In addition, Chock took repeated action to thwart the IRS from recovering the fraudulently obtained refund. For example, to conceal the funds from the IRS, Chock helped to create a nominee trust and opened bank accounts to facilitate the transfer of the fraudulently obtained criminal proceeds. She also mailed false and frivolous correspondence to the IRS to impede collection efforts. In total, Chock caused a tax loss of $232,221.53.

IRS Criminal Investigation, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, and FBI investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregg Yates and Trial Attorney Sarah A. Kiewlicz of the Criminal Division Tax Section are prosecuting the case.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 19 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.