Hawaii couple sentenced in $192,845 fraudulent IRS refund scheme

A Hawaii husband and wife were sentenced to prison for their roles in a nationwide tax fraud scheme that resulted in the IRS issuing them a fraudulent refund of nearly $200,000, the Justice Department announced.

Beverly Braumuller-Hawver received a 24-month sentence, while her husband, Scott Hawver, was sentenced to 16 months.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, the Hawvers, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, participated in the scheme from approximately February 2015 through November 2018, paying a promoter a series of fees in exchange for fraudulent tax paperwork. Prosecutors said the couple then filed an amended 2014 tax return that included a fabricated IRS Form 1099-MISC, falsely claiming a mortgage company had paid Hawver $749,163 in income and withheld $424,163 in federal taxes. The fictitious withholding claim prompted the IRS to issue the Hawvers a $192,845 refund to which they were not entitled.

The Hawvers moved quickly to put the money beyond the government’s reach, according to prosecutors. They deposited the Treasury check into a newly opened bank account and, within days, transferred $170,000 into a separate account held in the name of BeverlyB Music LLC, an unrelated music business they operated. That same day, the Hawvers paid co-conspirators more than $70,000 from the account for their roles in the scheme. Braumuller-Hawver later wired $22,000 to a jeweler to purchase gold and silver coins.

When the IRS sought to recover the funds, the Hawvers sent scripted, frivolous correspondence, filed a petition in U.S. Tax Court to thwart collection and participated as plaintiffs in multiple frivolous civil RICO lawsuits against IRS employees, according to the department.

A federal jury convicted both Braumuller-Hawver and Hawver in March 2026 of conspiring to defraud the IRS. Braumuller-Hawver was also convicted of filing a false tax return and money laundering. Chief U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson ordered the couple to jointly and severally pay $182,438.37 in restitution, in addition to their prison terms.

The Hawvers were among more than 200 participants across at least 19 states drawn into the broader scheme, prosecutors said. The scheme’s main promoters were sentenced in 2022 to prison terms of 11 years, more than eight years and 51 months. In Hawaii, the operation was organized and led by Rosemarie Lastimado-Dradi, who marketed it as the “Escrow Trust Refund” program, recruited clients and directed her 25% to 40% share of their fraudulent refunds into accounts held in the names of fictitious business entities and purported trusts. She was sentenced in January 2026 to nine years in prison. Other Hawaii participants received sentences ranging from 20 to 48 months.

Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division and U.S. Attorney Kenneth M. Sorenson for the District of Hawaii announced the sentences. IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.