An Ewa Beach couple pleaded guilty Friday after they were charged in connection with a 2021 federal investigation into allegations of tax fraud that ensnared at least a dozen local residents, according to a plea agreement.

In May 2021 a federal indictment revealed that from 2015 to 2021, Michael and Brigida Chock of Ewa Beach, along with an unnamed co-conspirator, prepared and filed bogus IRS tax withholdings, as well as a false 2014 amended individual income tax return that requested a refund of $225,327 based on the fraudulent withholdings.

The couple’s co-conspirator was paid $73,500 for help getting and concealing the refund. The Chocks also falsely claimed to the IRS that they had prepared the fake tax return themselves, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

After being issued the refund, the Chocks took steps to prevent the IRS from retrieving the money once the government tried to collect it. Michael Chock was accused of using local banks to launder the money, according to the release.

Michael and Brigida Chock each face up to five years in prison, federal probation, restitution and monetary penalties.

Attorneys Sarah Kiewlicz and Meredith Havekost of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregg Paris Yates are prosecuting the case.

The case against the Chocks began during a federal investigation into a broader scheme to file false tax returns and use Hawaii businesses, banks and trusts to launder the refunds.

At least three tax fraud indictments in 2021 name the co-conspirator as the owner of the Gimmel Group LLC, a domestic limited-liability company in Hawaii that “purported to be a personal investment business,” according to court documents.

A 15-count indictment handed down July 15 and unsealed Sept. 9 accused Hannah Kim Heart and Sook Young Jung of managing $1.6 million in illegal proceeds.

The Gimmel Group was incorporated April 29, 2015, and administratively terminated by the state on Dec. 7, 2018, according to the Business Registration Division of the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

Heart and Jung allegedly conspired with the Gimmel Group’s owner and a signatory of Mortgage Compliance Advisors &Solutions LLC, a Florida company, by recruiting at least five other people to file false tax returns to obtain refunds they did not deserve.

From 2015 to 2019, Heart, Jung and the owner of Gimmel Group allegedly used MCA&S to act as mortgage lender to help fill out IRS forms to claim fake, sizable tax withholdings.

The conspirators allegedly filed a false 2014 amended individual income tax return that claimed a refund of $464,904 and a false 2015 individual income tax return that claimed a refund of $1,134,902, according to DOJ.

Heart And Jung paid the owner of the Gimmel Group “substantial fees” based in part on a percentage of tax refunds received and the amount of work done to facilitate false returns, according to the indictment. The pair created fake trusts and opened bank accounts in the name of the trusts to conceal the proceeds and prevent the IRS from recovering the money.

Heart and Jung cut cash­ier’s checks from to the accounts to pay alleged co-conspirators.

If convicted, Heart and Jung each face maximum sentences of 10 years in prison for each count of money laundering, three years for filing a false tax return and five years for conspiracy to defraud the United States.

In September 2021 a federal grand jury returned a 45-count superseding indictment charging Rosemarie Lastimado-Dradi, owner and president of the now defunct Gimmel Group, and five others with conspiracy to defraud the government. Lastimado-Dradi was also charged with aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return.

In June 2021 another Ewa Beach couple, Beverly Braumuller-Hawver and Scott F. Hawver, were indicted for conspiring to defraud the government by filing a false tax return. Braumuller-­Hawver also was charged with four counts of money laundering.