Ivan Odiaga

Sentenced. Odiaga received 38 months in prison on October 21, 2026, for a conspiracy with his mother to defraud the United States through false tax returns.

Introduction

Ivan Odiaga is a Las Vegas tax preparer who was sentenced on October 21, 2026, to 38 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States by filing false tax returns with the IRS and diverting portions of the resulting refunds to himself and his co-defendant — his mother, Iris Hondermann . Between 2017 and 2021, Odiaga and Hondermann prepared tax returns for clients at Silver State Tax & Multiservices LLC, a Las Vegas tax preparation business Hondermann owned, that included one or more false items .

Background Information

The false items the pair inserted into client returns included business profits and losses, COVID-19 sick and family leave credits, and residential energy credits, according to court documents and statements made in court . In 2020 and 2021, Odiaga prepared some returns using the Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) of another tax preparer without permission — masking who was actually behind the filings .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Over the 2017-2021 span, Odiaga and his mother prepared false tax returns seeking more than $5 million in refunds their clients were not entitled to receive, and at times diverted portions of client refunds to themselves — more than $1.1 million in fraudulent refunds diverted to bank accounts one or both of them controlled . Hondermann previously pleaded guilty, on August 5, to one count of conspiring to defraud the United States and awaits her own sentencing .

Public Reaction and Consequences

Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division announced the sentencing; IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case, and Trial Attorney Stuart A. Wexler of the division’s Tax Section prosecuted it . The release notes the case was announced under the Justice Department’s Fraud Division, created in April, which supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud — a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within federal benefit programs .

Current Status

Odiaga is serving his 38-month sentence . Hondermann, who pleaded guilty in August, remains awaiting sentencing, so the family scheme that ran through Silver State Tax & Multiservices has produced one sentence so far, with the second to follow .

Impact on Their Career/Life

Odiaga’s sentencing ends his work as a preparer and puts the Las Vegas storefront he staffed for his mother at the center of a federal fraud case: $5 million in refund claims built on fabricated credits, a stolen preparer identity used to file returns, and $1.1 million skimmed from the clients’ own refunds. For clients whose names were on the false returns, the case stands as a warning that the preparer, not just the filer, answers for what a return contains.

Sources

• DOJ Office of Public Affairs, “Las Vegas Man Sentenced to Prison in $5M Tax Refund Fraud Scheme,” October 21, 2026 — source