HONOLULU, HI – September 10, 2026 (STL.News) A Hawaii husband and wife have been sentenced to federal prison for participating in a sprawling tax refund fraud operation that federal authorities say ultimately involved more than 200 participants in at least 19 states and generated millions of dollars in fraudulent claims against the Internal Revenue Service.
Beverly Braumuller-Hawver and Scott Hawver, both of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, were sentenced Sept. 9 after being convicted earlier this year. Braumuller-Hawver received 16 months in federal prison, while Hawver received 24 months, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Chief U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson also ordered the couple to pay $182,438.37 in restitution to the United States, jointly and severally.
The sentences represent another chapter in a federal investigation that stretches back years and connects the Hawaii defendants to a much larger nationwide tax fraud operation.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, the Hawvers participated in the fraudulent refund scheme from approximately February 2015 through November 2018.
Federal prosecutors said the couple paid a promoter a series of fees in exchange for fraudulent tax documents. They then used those materials to file an amended 2014 federal income tax return containing a fabricated IRS Form 1099-MISC.
The fraudulent form claimed that a mortgage company had paid Hawver $749,163 in income and had withheld $424,163 of that amount in federal taxes.
Those representations were false.
Because the return showed an enormous amount of purported federal tax withholding, the IRS processed the amended return and issued the Hawvers a $192,845 refund, according to the Justice Department.
Money moved after Treasury issued refund
Evidence presented to the jury showed that the couple began moving the money after receiving the U.S. Treasury check.
The couple deposited the refund check into a newly opened bank account. Within days, $170,000 was transferred into another account held in the name of BeverlyB Music LLC, a music business operated by the Hawvers that was unrelated to the claimed tax refund.
Federal prosecutors said more than $70,000 was then paid from the BeverlyB Music account to co-conspirators for their participation in the scheme.
Braumuller-Hawver subsequently wired another $22,000 from the account to a jeweler to purchase gold and silver coins.
The movement of the refund money became an important part of the government’s case.
In the March 2026 Justice Department announcement of the couple’s convictions, IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Carrie Nordyke emphasized investigators’ ability to trace financial transactions as proceeds moved through businesses, trusts, and other accounts.
IRS attempted to recover the money
The case did not end when the refund was issued.
According to the Justice Department, the Hawvers subsequently took actions intended to interfere with the IRS’s attempts to recover the improperly issued money.
Federal prosecutors said the couple sent scripted, frivolous correspondence to the IRS and filed a petition in U.S. Tax Court to impede collection.
They also became plaintiffs in civil litigation directed against IRS employees and other government officials.
Public federal court records provide additional context to that portion of the case.
Braumuller-Hawver and Hawver were among numerous plaintiffs named in a 2019 federal lawsuit involving challenges to the government’s authority to collect taxes. A March 2019 opinion from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims identifies both Hawvers, along with several people who later surfaced in federal prosecutions connected to the broader tax scheme.
The Justice Department characterized the Hawvers’ related civil filings as frivolous efforts aimed at IRS employees carrying out their official duties.
That history makes the criminal prosecution broader than a case involving only a false tax return. Prosecutors presented evidence concerning the original refund claim, movement of the proceeds and subsequent attempts to frustrate government collection efforts.
Federal jury returned convictions in March
A federal jury in Honolulu convicted Beverly Braumuller-Hawver and Scott Hawver in March 2026 of conspiring to defraud the IRS.
Braumuller-Hawver was additionally convicted of filing a false tax return and money laundering.
The convictions came nearly five years after federal authorities first publicly announced charges against the couple.
In June 2021, a federal grand jury in Honolulu indicted the Hawvers on charges connected to the tax scheme. At that stage, the allegations had not yet been proven, and both defendants were entitled to the presumption of innocence.
The case ultimately proceeded to trial, eliminating that presumption for the offenses on which the jury returned guilty verdicts.
The Sept. 9 sentences followed those convictions.
Hawaii operation was part of a nationwide scheme
The Hawvers’ case is particularly significant because federal authorities connected it to a much larger tax refund conspiracy.
According to the Justice Department, the nationwide scheme attracted more than 200 participants in at least 19 states.
The underlying concept involved persuading taxpayers that mortgages and other debts somehow entitled them to enormous federal tax refunds.
Participants submitted tax returns falsely reporting that banks, mortgage companies, or other financial institutions had paid them income and withheld substantial amounts of federal taxes.
Those fictitious withholding amounts generated refund claims that, in some cases, led the Treasury to issue substantial payments.
Federal prosecutors previously said one participant in the national operation, Yomarie Febres of Georgia, prepared 77 false income tax returns seeking more than $23.8 million in refunds.
The IRS actually paid more than $15 million in fraudulent refunds associated with returns Febres prepared, according to the Justice Department.
Febres was sentenced in 2022 to 51 months in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $11.1 million in restitution to the IRS.
The nationwide scheme’s principal promoter, Iran Backstrom, received a sentence of more than eight years in federal prison. Another major participant, Mehef Bey, whom prosecutors described as Backstrom’s second-in-command, received an 11-year sentence.
Federal authorities said participants were recruited through seminars held around the country and were told that mortgages and other debts entitled them to tax refunds.
Fees charged to participants reportedly ranged from approximately $10,000 to $15,000.
Escrow Trust Refund program reached Hawaii
The Hawaii branch of the operation developed its own structure.
Federal prosecutors identified Rosemarie Lastimado-Dradi as the organizer and leader of the Hawaii operation.
Lastimado-Dradi marketed the program as the “Escrow Trust Refund” program and recruited participants, including the Hawvers.
According to the Justice Department, she directed between 25% and 40% of participants’ fraudulent refunds into accounts associated with fictitious businesses and purported trusts.
Her role eventually resulted in one of the longest sentences imposed in the Hawaii prosecutions.
A federal jury convicted Lastimado-Dradi and three other Hawaii defendants in August 2025.
In January 2026, Senior U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright sentenced Lastimado-Dradi to 108 months — nine years — in federal prison for conspiring to defraud the United States, assisting in the preparation or filing of false tax returns and money laundering.
During sentencing, Judge Seabright described her as the “mastermind of the scheme in Hawaii,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Hawaii.
Federal authorities determined that Lastimado-Dradi promoted the scheme to at least five participants in Hawaii, causing a tax loss of at least $2.12 million.
Prosecutors said she received about $998,261 in fraud proceeds.
She was ordered to pay more than $1.72 million in restitution to the United States.
Other defendants receive prison sentences
The investigation has resulted in prison sentences for numerous other defendants connected to the Hawaii operation.
Marciaminajuanequita Dumlao was sentenced to 33 months in prison. Elvah Miranda received 48 months, while Daniel Miranda received 30 months.
The Mirandas were jointly ordered to pay $567,789.55 in restitution, while Dumlao was ordered to pay $325,981.86.
Another defendant, Lazerrick Lawrence of Georgia, was sentenced in February 2026 to 20 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release.
Federal authorities said Lawrence helped prevent the IRS from recovering fraudulent refund proceeds by filing retaliatory liens against an IRS employee, creating corporate entities intended to conceal ownership of property subject to federal tax liens and assisting co-conspirators with sham bankruptcy proceedings.
Brigida Chock, another Hawaii participant identified by the Justice Department in connection with the broader operation, received a 27-month prison sentence.
Together, the cases illustrate the scope of an investigation that extended far beyond the Hawvers’ individual tax return.
Years-long federal investigation
IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case against the Hawvers.
Trial Attorney Megan L. Jones and former Trial Attorney Sarah A. Kiewlicz prosecuted the case through the Justice Department’s federal fraud and tax enforcement operation.
The case also reflects the government’s continuing effort to trace fraud proceeds even when money is transferred through multiple bank accounts, business entities, trusts or other assets.
The nationwide investigation has now produced convictions and substantial prison sentences for organizers, promoters, recruiters and participants.
For Beverly Braumuller-Hawver and Scott Hawver, a scheme involving an amended 2014 tax return ultimately led to a federal jury trial, criminal convictions, prison sentences, and an order requiring more than $182,000 in restitution.
The larger investigation, however, involved far more money.
Federal records show that participants across the country sought millions of dollars in fraudulent refunds, and the IRS issued millions before investigators and prosecutors dismantled significant portions of the operation.
The Hawvers’ sentencing is therefore not an isolated tax prosecution but part of a years-long federal effort targeting a nationwide refund scheme that spanned at least 19 states and involved more than 200 participants.
