Some of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.
New York: Preparer Awilda Rosario has been indicted and charged with 30 counts of aiding in the preparation of false returns.
The indictment charges that Rosario, who owned and operated the Brooklyn-based tax prep business Edujas Multiservices Corp., prepared false individual income tax returns for clients spanning at least tax years 2008 through 2013 and allegedly attached false schedules that reported business losses the taxpayers did not incur and attached schedules that reported inflated or fictitious deductions. She also attached forms claiming fictitious education and fuel tax credits that the taxpayers were not entitled to receive.
The indictment further alleges that after the IRS revoked the e-filing number for Edujas Multiservices, Rosario obtained at least two different e-file provider numbers and continued to prepare and submit false returns for clients, listing a different preparer and preparer firm to conceal her involvement.
If convicted, she faces a maximum of three years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for each count.
Alxandria, Va.: Preparer Dorothy Anne Beach, 51, has entered an Alford plea in local county court to one count each of racketeering, felony ID theft, money laundering, filing a false return and being a preparer who files a false tax return, according to published reports. (An Alford plea means no admission of guilt but acknowledgement of enough evidence for a conviction, news sources added.)
Authorities reportedly said that Beach, who faces up to 31 years in prison, generally used other people’s identities, business identities and other information to file false returns and receive false refunds, forming a network of individuals to assist her in obtaining information and filing returns. Authorities estimated that Beach received about $250,000 of state funds and $750,000 of federal funds as part of a scheme that involved more than 50 false returns filed between 2008 and 2013, reports added.
As part of a plea agreement, the recommended sentence is two years of active jail time with 29 years suspended, reports said, adding that sentencing is January 5.
Pepper Pike, Ohio: Local resident Ghana Johnson, 45, has been indicted for an ID-theft scheme in which she attempted to claim $476,000 in fraudulent refunds. She was indicted on one count of wire fraud, five counts of filing false claims for income tax refunds and five counts of aggravated ID theft.
She e-filed 106 phony returns for tax years 2010 and 2011, in her own name and others’, claiming $476,503 in refunds. Johnson requested that these refunds be paid by direct deposit to prepaid debit cards, according to the indictment.
Johnson used stolen means of identification, including names and Social Security numbers, obtaining these in a variety of ways, including from stolen admission records from a medical and dental assistant school in Cleveland, according to the indictment.
Johnson held herself out to be an income tax preparer to family, friends and others, even though she did not list herself as an income tax preparer on any of the fraudulent returns she filed in the names of others, according to the indictment.
She falsified wage income, federal income tax withholdings, dependents, exemptions and tax credit information. Many of the fraudulent returns shared common characteristics, including addresses, employers, wages, federal income tax withholdings and tax credits, according to the indictment.
