Tax Fraud: Cubby Wayne Williams Was Found Guilty Of 22 Counts Of Assisting In The Preparation Of False Tax Returns

<h2>Inglewood-based Tax Preparer Convicted in Scheme that Sought More than &dollar;5 Million in Fraudulent Refunds<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>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&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Cubby Wayne Williams&comma; 64&comma; of Alhambra&comma; 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&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>United States District Judge Percy Anderson has scheduled a December 16 sentencing hearing&comma; at which time Williams will face a statutory maximum sentence of 78 years in federal prison&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Williams&comma; who owns and operates the Inglewood-based tax services company Williams <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;tag&sol;financial-fraud&sol;" title&equals;"Financial" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" data-wpil-monitor-id&equals;"942">Financial<&sol;a> Network&comma; filed tax returns claiming that his clients had accrued Original Issue Discount &lpar;OID&rpar; interest income&comma; according to the evidence presented at his four-day trial&period; OID is a form of interest that accrues over the life of a bond or other debt instrument&comma; but is not payable as it accrues&period; Financial institutions use IRS Forms 1099-OID to report this accrued&comma; but unpaid&comma; income&comma; and any tax withholdings on it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Williams fraudulently claimed OID withholdings on 22 tax returns for his clients for the tax years 2013 through 2016&comma; and sought hundreds of thousands in bogus tax refunds&period; Williams took a cut of many of these refunds often by directing the IRS to deposit a portion into a bank account under Williams’s control&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When his clients complained that their returns had fallen under IRS scrutiny&comma; had been corrected and that they now owed money to the IRS&comma; Williams told them the IRS had made a mistake and they were still entitled to their tax refunds&period; When the same clients informed Williams they were being audited&comma; he assured them he would represent them before the IRS and resolve any issues&comma; but he ultimately did little other than to submit further fraudulent documentation to the IRS&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to prosecutors&comma; Williams’ scheme included many false returns in addition to the returns charged in the indictment&comma; through which Williams attempted to fraudulently obtain more than &dollar;5 million in tax refunds and&comma; in fact&comma; obtained nearly &dollar;3 million for himself and his clients&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This matter is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys James C&period; Hughes and Ranee A&period; Katzenstein of the Major Frauds Section&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;