Tax Fraud: Eyob Tilahun Sentenced For Fraudulent Tax Return

<h2>Owner of Tax King Sentenced to Prison<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mh-content-ad"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js&quest;client&equals;ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; crossorigin&equals;"anonymous"><&sol;script>&NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle"&NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;"&NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article"&NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid"&NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1081854981"><&sol;ins>&NewLine;<script>&NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi;&NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>Donald S&period; Boyce&comma; United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois&comma; announced today that Eyob Tilahun&comma; 30&comma; of St&period; Louis&comma; MO&comma; was sentenced to 38 months in federal prison for defrauding the United States Treasury&period; Tilahun’s conviction and sentence arise from his operation of a fraudulent tax return preparation business known as Tax King&comma; LLC&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Tilahun owned and operated several Tax King facilities located in St&period; Louis&comma; MO&period; Tilahun also operated a Tax King located at 212 Collinsville Avenue in East St&period; Louis&period; On May 20&comma; 2016&comma; Tilahun pled guilty in Federal Court in East St&period; Louis to a charge of conspiring to submit false claims for tax refunds&period; As part of his guilty plea&comma; Tilahun admitted that Tax King’s return preparers were trained and instructed to increase their customers’ refunds by falsifying certain information on their tax returns&period; The false information that was placed on the returns included&colon; &lpar;1&rpar; false Business Income and Schedules Cs which caused the clients to qualify for larger Earned Income Credits &lpar;&&num;8220&semi;EICs&&num;8221&semi;&rpar;&semi; &lpar;2&rpar; false wages&comma; which again caused the clients to qualify for larger EICs&semi; &lpar;3&rpar; false education expenses which enabled the clients to qualify for American opportunity education credits&semi; and &lpar;4&rpar; false information regarding fuel taxes which qualified the clients for federal fuel tax credits&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Tilahun admitted that he profited from the scheme by charging Tax King’s clients fees which ranged from approximately &dollar;400 to &dollar;650&period; The indictment in the case alleges that the return preparers also profited by requesting cash &&num;8220&semi;tips&&num;8221&semi; from the clients of approximately &dollar;100 to &dollar;1&comma;000&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In addition to the 38-month prison sentence&comma; Tilahun will be ordered to pay restitution to the United States Treasury&period; The exact amount of restitution will be determined at a later date&comma; but is expected to exceed &dollar;2&comma;000&comma;000&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Two employees of Tax King were also sentenced today&period; Tanesa L&period; Beverly&comma; 32&comma; of East St&period; Louis&comma; IL&comma; and Melissa L&period; Wiley&comma; 35&comma; of Granite City&comma; IL&comma; were both sentenced to two years of probation&period; Beverly and Wiley both worked as return preparers at the East St&period; Louis Tax King for a couple of months during 2013&period; Both had previously pled guilty to participating in the conspiracy and filing false tax returns&period; In addition to their probation sentences&comma; Beverly was ordered to pay &dollar;8&comma;245 in restitution and Wiley was ordered to pay restitution of &dollar;13&comma;401&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In addition to Tilahun&comma; Beverly&comma; and Wiley&comma; four other defendants in the case have previously pled guilty&period; Those defendants are Mason B&period; Richmond&comma; 31&comma; of St&period; Louis&comma; MO&semi; Lakesha R&period; Wilson&comma; 28&comma; of East St&period; Louis&comma; IL&semi; Edric A&period; Russell&comma; 35&comma; of East St&period; Louis&comma; IL&comma; and Pierre J&period; Carter&comma; 34&comma; of East St&period; Louis&comma; IL&period; Wilson&comma; Russell&comma; and Carter all worked as return preparers at the East St&period; Louis Tax King&period; Richmond worked as a return preparer at a Tax King on North Grand in St&period; Louis&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Tilahun&comma; Beverly&comma; and Wiley are scheduled to be sentenced on September 9&comma; 2016&period; Sentencing for Richmond will be October 7&comma; 2016&period; Russell and Carter will be sentenced on January 27&comma; 2017&period; Wilson’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 3&comma; 2017&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The investigation is being conducted by agents from both the Fairview Heights&comma; Illinois&comma; and St&period; Louis&comma; Missouri Offices of the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation&period; The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Scott A&period; Verseman&period; The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri has also prosecuted several return preparers who worked at Tax King locations in St&period; Louis&comma; MO&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;usao-sdil&sol;pr&sol;owner-tax-king-sentenced-prison">Original PressReleases&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;

Tax Fraud