Tax Fraud

Westfield Woman Pleads Guilty To Stealing Thousands Of Dollars From Health Care Agency BUFFALO, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Alicia Raynor, 42, of Westfield, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra, Jr. to wire fraud and filing a false tax return. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and a $250,000 fine. Assistant U.S. Attorney John D. Fabian, who is handling the case, stated that the defendant was hired as a business manager for Compassion at Home, Inc. Her duties included, among other things, managing company finances ... Read more

Pelham- And Bronx-Based Tax Preparer Pleads Guilty In White Plains Federal Court To Preparing And Filing False Income Tax Returns Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Jonathan D. Larsen, the Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (“IRS-CI”), announced today that MICHAEL MAGNALDI, a former Pelham resident and an owner and operator of a Bronx-based tax preparation business, pled guilty to one count of aiding and assisting in the filing of false tax returns for tax years 2014 to 2017 and one count ... Read more

Inglewood-based Tax Preparer Convicted in Scheme that Sought More than $5 Million in Fraudulent Refunds LOS ANGELES – A tax preparer and ex-California Franchise Tax Board employee was found guilty by a jury today of federal criminal charges accusing him of defrauding the IRS out of millions of dollars by declaring bogus withholdings used to fraudulently claim substantial tax refunds. Cubby Wayne Williams, 64, of Alhambra, was found guilty of 22 counts of assisting in the preparation of false tax returns for his clients and four counts of subscribing to false tax returns for himself. United States District Judge Percy ... Read more

Tax Preparer Convicted of Conspiracy to Defraud IRS and Preparing False Tax Returns TRENTON, N.J. – A Maryland man working as a tax preparer in New Jersey was convicted today on charges of conspiracy to defraud the IRS by preparing false income tax returns for clients in order to boost business at tax preparation companies that he and others ran, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced. Joseph Kenny Batts, 50, of Elkridge, Maryland, was convicted following a one-week trial before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp in Trenton federal court on one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and ... Read more

Financial Broker Sentenced To 42 Months In Prison For Tax Evasion And Failure To File Tax Returns Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced today that RICHARD JOSEPHBERG was sentenced to 42 months in prison for evading hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes for the calendar year 2011 and willfully failing to file tax returns for the calendar years 2013 through 2015. JOSEPHBERG previously pleaded guilty to these crimes before U.S. Circuit Judge Richard J. Sullivan, who imposed today’s sentence. According to allegations in the Indictment, court filings, and statements made ... Read more

Former West Virginia Cabinet Secretary Sentenced to Federal Prison for Embezzling Fire Department Funds HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – A Hurricane man and former West Virginia Cabinet Secretary was sentenced today to 37 months in federal prison for embezzling $178,790 from the Teays Valley Volunteer Fire Department, as well as a related tax crime, announced United States Attorney Mike Stuart. Clifford Keith Gwinn, 64, formerly the Cabinet Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Veterans Assistance, previously pled guilty in June 2018 to theft from a program receiving federal funds and failure to report and pay over payroll taxes. As part of ... Read more

Tallahassee City Commissioner and Political Consultant Charged in Racketeering Conspiracy TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA – Tallahassee City Commissioner Scott Charles Maddox, 50, and Tallahassee political consultant Janice Paige Carter-Smith, 53, both of Tallahassee, have been indicted in a forty-four count indictment for conspiring to operate a racketeering enterprise that engaged in acts of bank fraud, extortion, honest services fraud, and bribery. Maddox and Carter-Smith are also charged with substantive counts of bank fraud, false statements to financial institutions, extortion, honest services fraud, use of interstate facilities in furtherance of bribery, false statements to federal officers, conspiracy to interfere with the lawful function ... Read more

4TH Florida Man Pleads Guilty In Connection To Multi-Million Dollar Fraud Against Xerox Corporation ROCHESTER, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced that Jason Haynes, of Florida, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and filing a false tax return in connection with a scheme to defraud the Xerox Corporation of more than $20,000,000. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard A. Resnick, who is handling the case, stated that the defendant, along with Kyle Haynes, David Haynes ... Read more

Owings Mills Woman Pleads Guilty to Obtaining Over $4.3 Million in an Advance Fee Fraud Scheme and to Evading Taxes on that Income Baltimore, Maryland – Late on November 29, 2018—a few days before she was scheduled to go to trial—Lauren Montillo, age 47, of Owings Mills, Maryland, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to tax evasion. According to her plea agreement, from 2010 through 2015, Montillo and her co-conspirators sought at least $8.7 million in advance fees from foreign and United States victims, purporting to offer access to exotic bank financial instruments. Victims paid $4,342,540 in ... Read more

Owner of Engineering Firms and CPA Convicted in Tax Scheme Caused Millions in Tax Loss and Obstructed IRS Efforts to Collect Money and Penalties Owed A federal jury in Honolulu, Hawaii, convicted Wagdy Guirguis and Michael Higa of conspiracy to defraud the United States yesterday, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Kenji M. Price for the District of Hawaii. In addition to the conspiracy conviction, Guirguis was also convicted of three counts of filing false corporate income tax returns, one count of failure to file a corporate income ... Read more