Liehinahina Sullivan was described in court on March 29,2023, as a “one-woman criminal enterprise.” Good description of a fraudster who stole about $3.4 million in three different schemes using stolen identities using the guise of an altruistic humanitarian. In 2011, Sullivan established a non-profit organization that supposedly offered tax and scholarship help to the island of Kauai community. But good deeds were not on Sullivan’s mind. She was thinking about fraud.
Sullivan’s first scheme involved filing tax returns. She filed hundreds of false federal and state tax returns that included fictitious expenses and claims for credits made up by Sullivan. Sullivan did not review these tax returns with the individuals before she filed the tax returns in their names and forged their signatures to do so. With these identities and tax returns, Sullivan easily transitioned into educational fraud. Using the identities of students located on the island of Kauai, Sullivan prepared and submitted false student loan, grant, scholarship, and financial aid applications from public and private educational-based financial assistance and aid providers.
Credit card fraud became Sullivan’s third pillar in her identity fraud scheme. Using her “clients” social security numbers and birth dates, she applied for and received approximately forty fraudulent credit cards in other peoples’ names. And then went shopping. In total, Sullivan spent over $1 million on these unauthorized cards. Eight years later, Sullivan’s good deeds were finally questioned. On March 9, 2023, she was sentenced to jail for seventeen years.
Great job by the OIG Special Agents on this case. Sullivan was on a roll with stolen identities. Who knows what other types of frauds Sullivan would have turned to next.
Kaua’i woman called ‘one-woman criminal sentenced to 17 years in prison’ published by Kauai News on March 29, 2023
Leihinahina Sullivan, whom prosecutors called a “one-woman criminal enterprise,” was sentenced Tuesday in federal court to 17 years in prison and three years of supervised release for long-running schemes on Kauaʻi that involved tax fraud, education fraud and identity theft.
Sullivan, 51 of Līhuʻe, also is required to pay $3.4 million in restitution to various victims and public and private entities and is subject to a penalty of more than $2 million in forfeiture for the criminal proceeds of her offenses.
