Nothing sacred; on the Lamborghini; Empire lost; and other highlights of recent tax cases.
Washington, D.C.: Recent IRS Office of Professional Responsibility disciplinary actions include censure, suspension or disbarment from practice before the IRS. Individuals who were recently disciplined include:
- California: CPA Kenneth L. Gould, Cambia, and CPA Mark W. Greenberg, Los Angeles, indefinite from Oct. 3, 2023;
- Colorado: Attorney Devon M. Barclay, Edgewater, indefinite from Oct. 23, 2023;
- Florida: CPA Harold J. Swart Jr., Kissimmee, indefinite from Nov. 13, 2023;
- North Carolina: CPA Willie Cooper Jr., Fayetteville, indefinite from Oct. 11, 2023;
- Pennsylvania: Attorney James H. Turner, Millerstown and Philadelphia, indefinite from Nov. 13, 2023;
- Tennessee: Attorney Charles P. Gary Jr., Spring Hill, indefinite from Oct. 11, 2023; and
- Texas: CPA Shannon S. Burgess, Katy, indefinite from Oct. 13, 2023.
Wheeling, West Virginia: Real estate developer Jeffrey James Morris has pleaded guilty to wire and tax fraud in connection with a scheme to bilk investors out of millions.
Morris, managing member of Roxby Development, admitted to one count of wire fraud and one count of willful failure to pay over tax. He used false and misleading information to induce investments in the local property Scottish Rite Cathedral. He also acquired the local McClure House Hotel and the Mount Carmel Monastery and solicited investments for other properties in the area. The Cathedral and McClure House were foreclosed upon in 2023, and the Monastery will be conveyed by Morris to its primary lienholder pursuant to the plea agreement.
He also admitted that he caused Roxby Development to collect payroll taxes on behalf of its employees but willfully failed to pay over those funds to the IRS.
He faces up to six and a half years in prison and must pay $5,129,113.32 in restitution to investors and an additional $526,476.58 in taxes, penalties and interest to the IRS.
Chicago: Consultant Annazette Collins has been convicted for underreporting and failing to file federal income taxes.
Collins was convicted on four tax counts, including two counts of filing a false individual income tax return, one count of failing to file a corporate income tax return and one of failing to file an individual income tax return. The jury acquitted her on two other tax counts.
Collins filed a false individual tax return for 2014 and 2015 and failed to file an individual income tax return for 2016. She also failed to file a corporate income tax return for 2016 on behalf of her consulting and lobbying business, Chicago-based Kourtnie Nicole Corp. Before operating her consulting business, Collins served in the Illinois General Assembly as a representative and senator.
Her conduct resulted in a federal tax loss of some $86,000.
Sentencing is June 21. Each count of filing a false individual income tax return is punishable by up to three years in prison. The misdemeanor counts of willfully failing to file individual or corporate income tax returns each carry a maximum of a year in prison.
Milton, Delaware: Amir Mohamed, the former owner of Addiction Medical Facility, a drug rehab center, has pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements on a tax return.
Mohamed failed to declare on his federal tax returns all the income he received in 2021, underpaying taxes in that year.
Mohamed faces up to three years in prison when sentenced on June 27.
Houston: Two men have been sentenced for their roles in a scheme to cash stolen tax checks.
Kuljinder Singh Hunjan of Spring Valley, New York, and Benjamin Thomas both pleaded guilty last year. Thomas was sentenced to 90 months in prison, Hunjan to 42 months. Both must also serve three years of supervised release following their sentences and both were ordered to pay $4,483,987.89 in restitution.
Around January 2022, authorities learned of a Houston couple who never received their $2,932,446.84 IRS refund check in the mail. Investigation revealed that Hunjan and Whitley Rachelle Carter had used fake IDs with the victims' names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers to open accounts at a local bank that month. On Jan. 18, 2022, Hunjan and Carter deposited the victims' check into the account.
That April, authorities arrested Thomas as he was driving a stolen Lamborghini. At that time, he possessed two debit cards for fraudulently created accounts that were used to receive the proceeds of the refund check as well as an ATM receipt showing a withdrawal of $800 from the bank account that received the check.
Carter, of Houston, will be sentenced on May 21. She faces up to 30 years in prison and a possible $1 million fine.
New Braunfels, Texas: Rachel Nicole Woolard, who owned and operated a healthcare staffing company, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for failure to account for and pay over withholding taxes.
From the first quarter of 2018 through the first quarter of 2020, she willfully failed to account for and pay over employment taxes for nine tax periods, resulting in a total tax loss of $924,752.76.
She was also ordered to pay the full amount in restitution to the U.S. Treasury.
Orlando, Florida: Tax preparer Phedson Dore has been sentenced to two years in prison for conspiring to defraud the U.S. by preparing and filing false returns for clients.
From 2017 through 2020, Dore and a co-conspirator ran Empire Tax Services and filed hundreds of false returns each year. Dore typically inflated federal income tax withholdings and reported fictitious itemized deductions to generate phony refunds.
Dore did not always list on the returns his name as the person who prepared them or include Empire's EFIN. Instead, he used his employees' names and the EFINS of other prep businesses. He and his co-conspirator caused a loss to the IRS of some $970,000.
Dore was also ordered to serve two years of supervised release and pay some $970,976 in restitution to the U.S.
Canyon Lake, Texas: Tax preparer Dawn Marie Munoz, 54, has been sentenced to two years in prison for aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false return.
In preparing and submitting joint 1040s for clients, she underreported her clients' income. Munoz was arrested in April 2022 and pleaded guilty last May.
Munoz was also ordered to pay $227,197.65 to four victims.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Dr. Melissa Rose Barrett has been sentenced to 52 months in prison for tax evasion.
Barrett owned and operated two urgent care clinics and owed the IRS some $1.6 million in income taxes, excluding interest and penalties.
The IRS notified Barrett that she owed taxes by letter correspondence, calls, and bank account and property seizures, as well as via interviews with agents. Barrett sought to thwart collection efforts by submitting to the IRS a false 433-A that underreported her income and inaccurately detailed her assets, by not making cash deposits into banks and by using nominees to purchase millions of dollars in real estate and personal property.
She was also ordered to serve a year of supervised release and to pay a $200,000 fine.
