Billy Felder

In October of 2024, the Minnesota Department of Revenue (MDOR) began investigating numerous Property Tax Refunds (PTR) that were suspected to be fraudulent. The MDOR investigation ultimately determined that 47 fraudulent PTRs and 1 fraudulent income tax return had been filed for a total amount of $101,963 in property tax returns, of which 27 were rejected upon filing and 21 accepted and paid. The investigation also determined that numerous forged documents were used and that the identities of at least four individuals were stolen as part of the fraudulent scheme and used to defraud MDOR in 2 instances.

The fraudulent documents were filed with MDOR between July 30, 2020, and February 7, 2025, The resulting total financial loss to the State of Minnesota was $41,808. The purpose of a PTR is to provide property tax relief to individuals with an income of less than $135,410 who either own or rent their primary residence. Landlords are required to issue a Certificate of Rent Paid (CRP) to renters, and the CRP must be provided to MDOR when the renter is filing a PTR. The MDOR investigation received and reviewed evidence from MDOR records, state DL/ID records, county property records, landlord records and interviews, federal court records, bank records, IP address information, seized documents and electronic devices and email records.

BILLY FELDER [DOB REDACTED], "Defendant" herein, was identified as the source of the fraudulent returns. Defendant resides on the 10900 block of Butternut St. NW, city of Coon Rapids, county of Anoka. 11 different addresses, all located within the counties of Anoka or Hennepin, were used on the fraudulent PTRs. The MDOR issued subpoenas to the property owners of all 11 addresses and learned that in each case, the CRP provided with the fraudulent PTR either referenced an individual that had never resided at the address, contained false and inaccurate information such as the total amount of rent paid or length of residence, contained a false name for the property owner, a falsified signature of the actual property owner, or referenced a unit that did not exist.

The MDOR issued subpoenas to the financial institutions referenced on the fraudulent returns and into which the property tax refund payments were deposited. Records received showed that the bank accounts used were either owned by Defendant, businesses controlled by Defendant, or otherwise tied to his address, or email addresses and phone numbers controlled by Defendant. The 48 fraudulent returns were filed in the names of 23 separate individuals, 2 of whom were determined to be deceased at the time of filing and another 2 who reported that they did not give their consent for the filings. 11 of the individuals were noted to have the same last name as Defendant.

A number of individuals were determined to have never resided in MN or were not residing in MN during the tax years in question. All but one of the suspected fraudulent returns was handwritten and filed with MDOR through the mail. The handwriting on the 47 manually submitted forms was determined to match that of Defendant's, and the single electronically filed return was from an IP address registered to Defendant. The identities of four individuals were stolen, 2 who were deceased and 2 who did not give their permission for their identity to be used.