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Key Takeaways

• Scott Hawver received 16 months in prison, and Beverly Braumuller-Hawver received 24 months.
• Fabricated tax withholding generated a $192,845 refund, followed by transfers and efforts to block IRS collection.
• The couple must repay $182,438.37 under a shared restitution order.

By Samuel López | USA Herald

A false tax form produced a real Treasury check. Now, an Ewa Beach, Hawaii, couple will serve federal prison sentences for their part in a nationwide operation that collected fraudulent refunds and used business accounts and baseless court filings to frustrate IRS recovery efforts.

Scott Hawver was sentenced September 9 to 16 months in prison. His wife, Beverly Braumuller-Hawver, received 24 months. Chief U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson also ordered them to pay $182,438.37 in restitution, according to the Justice Department’s September 10 announcement.

Their case illustrates how the scheme worked at the household level, from purchased paperwork to a government payment and the subsequent movement of that money.

Between approximately February 2015 and November 2018, the Hawvers participated in the operation by paying a promoter for fraudulent tax documents, prosecutors said.

They submitted an amended 2014 return with a fabricated Form 1099-MISC claiming a mortgage company had paid Hawver $749,163 and withheld $424,163 in federal income taxes. That invented withholding caused the IRS to issue a $192,845 refund.

The essential deception was straightforward. The return claimed credit for taxes supposedly already paid to the government. Those withholding payments were fictitious.

After depositing the Treasury check into a newly opened account, the couple transferred $170,000 within days to an account belonging to BeverlyB Music LLC, their unrelated music business. More than $70,000 went from that account to co-conspirators the same day. Braumuller-Hawver later wired another $22,000 to a jeweler for gold and silver coins.

When the IRS sought repayment, the couple responded with scripted correspondence, a Tax Court petition and civil lawsuits accusing IRS employees of racketeering. DOJ described those filings as frivolous and part of the effort to obstruct collection.

Taxpayers can lawfully challenge the IRS. Here, prosecutors identified the filings as tools used to resist recovery of money obtained through fraud.

A federal jury convicted both spouses in March 2026 of conspiring to defraud the IRS. Braumuller-Hawver was additionally convicted of filing a false tax return and money laundering. That distinction matters when describing the outcome accurately—the announcement does not report those additional convictions against Scott Hawver.

Their restitution obligation is joint and several, meaning each is responsible for the unpaid balance of the shared $182,438.37 debt. It is not a separate award of that amount against each spouse. The announcement does not explain why restitution is lower than the original refund.

The broader operation reached more than 200 participants in at least 19 states. In its 2022 prosecution announcement, DOJ said promoters helped submit more than $64 million in false refund claims. That figure represents claims submitted, not necessarily money paid out.

Promoter Mehef Bey received 11 years in prison, while Iran V. Backstrom received 105 months.

In Hawaii, Rosemarie Lastimado-Dradi recruited participants, including the Hawvers, under the “Escrow Trust Refund” program. According to DOJ, she took between 25% and 40% of fraudulent refunds and routed her proceeds through fictitious entities and purported trusts.

Lastimado-Dradi received nine years in prison in January. Other defendants sentenced that month included Elvah Miranda, who received 48 months; Daniel Miranda, 30 months; and Marciaminajuanequita Dumlao, 33 months. Federal prosecutors detailed those sentences here.

IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the Hawvers’ case. Megan L. Jones and former trial attorney Sarah A. Kiewlicz prosecuted it.

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