Mark Matthews Quoted in Reuters, U.S. Justice Department Speeding Arrests of Tax Refund Thieves

Excerpt taken from the article.

[E]ffective Oct. 1, attorneys may bypass the [U.S. Justice Department] review process and authorize arrests immediately in ID theft tax cases. Justice's Tax Division will still need to review federal indictments for criminal tax cases, the agency said.

The change is a "green light that U.S. attorneys have to deal with this in a more-rapid response," said Mark Matthews, a lawyer at Caplin & Drysdale and former head of the criminal investigation division at the Internal Revenue Service.

In 2011, 641,052 taxpayers had their identities stolen, up from 270,518 the previous year, according to IRS statistics cited in a report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

Click here to read the entire article on the U.S. Justice Department's initiative to combat identity theft.