OKEMOS TAX RETURN PREPARER SENTENCED TO TWO YEARS IN PRISON FOR FALSE AND FRAUDULENT TAX RETURNS
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Press Release
Contact:
B. RENÉ SHEKMER
ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY
PHONE: (616) 456-2404
OKEMOS TAX RETURN PREPARER SENTENCED TO TWO YEARS IN PRISON
FOR FALSE AND FRAUDULENT TAX RETURNS
TUESDAY, JULY 13, 2010 - GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Darryl Stanley Horton, 49, of Okemos, Michigan, was sentenced to two years (24 months) in federal prison for filing on behalf of himself and others false and fraudulent income tax returns, U.S. Attorney Donald A. Davis announced today. Horton was in the business of preparing tax returns during the years 2004 through 2008, and the aggregate tax loss to the United States from the false and fraudulent tax returns was between $300,000 and $400,000. The false and fraudulent returns variously claimed false business losses, false itemized deductions, and false refunds, resulting in underpayment of federal income taxes and the receipt of fraudulent tax refunds.
“Abusive tax return preparers think they have the skills to deceive the Internal Revenue Service,” said IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Maurice M. Aouate, “but they won’t get away with it.” “Willfully filing tax returns with fictitious businesses or turning a net profit into a false net loss to maximize a tax refund is against the law,” he added.
U.S. Attorney Davis said: “In crimes such as this, the American citizens are victimized twice; once, when the fraudulent tax returns are filed resulting in the underpayment of taxes owed and the issuance of fraudulent tax refunds and, again, when the Government has to expend the resources necessary to uncover and prosecute the crimes. Honest taxpayers should, and do, expect no less than our best effort on their behalf.”
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney B. René Shekmer and was investigated by Special Agents of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division.
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