It’s time for yet another round-up of tax fraud. We have some of the usual suspects, but there is one that rises to the top.
I wrote about Wade Cook in December 2005
when he was indicted for tax fraud. On Tuesday Cook was found guilty of seven charges of failing to pay taxes on $8.9 million of income between 1998 and 2000. The jury did deadlock on one charge against Cook. His wife, Laura, had a much better outcome: the jury deadlocked on all the charges against her. The government proved to the jurors satisfaction that Cook took royalties from his books and moved them into a trust. Cook then used the trust to support a luxurious lifestyle. Cook’s attorney noted that he plans to appeal. You can read more about the Cook case here.
Meanwhile, some tax preparers are in trouble. In Orange City, Florida, Keith Warner had a good way of making a living as a tax preparer (until he was caught); he kept over half of the refunds that should have gone to his clients. And he also neglected to report his embezzled income on his tax return. He’s looking at a visit to ClubFed, and a fine of $500,000 (coincidentally, that’s about how much he pocketed), and restitution. Meanwhile, a preparer in nearby Polk County, Florida is accused of making up deductions for her clients. She’s accused of inventing $2.7 million of deductions for her clients. She could face 81 years in ClubFed if found guilty on all counts.
Newman, California is one of the small towns in the Central Valley. Bonnie Arnell, of Newman, also made up questionable deductions for her clients, and she has pleaded guilty to 39 counts of filing false income tax returns and 3 counts of making false statements to the IRS. She also had another problem—when she was supposed to show up for an audit, she never did (inventing excuse after excuse). She’ll be spending significant time at ClubFed.
In Columbus, Georgia, yet another preparer is in trouble with the law. In early February, Valerie Renfroe was arrested on charges of overcharging clients and putting false information on tax returns. She’s now being sought on additional charges of theft by deception.
Finally, in New Jersey an accountant and his children have been indicted on charges of conspiring to steal more than $500,000 from the state by inventing 745 applications for homestead rebate checks. The Philippine News states that Ronnie Lapuz used the accused accountant’s firm and that Achilles Amante had ‘doctored’ various documents to allow him to get a larger refund. “I was shocked when his children were arrested because I thought what he was doing was legal,” Lapuz told the News. The case resulted from a tip to the Jersey City Police Department that many refund checks were directed to a business owned by the accused.
Not a good week for some of the lesser members of the tax preparation community. Doctoring documents, inventing deductions, and stealing refunds. Oh, I forgot to mention that Achilles Amante apparently charged $65 to do a tax return, according to the Philippine News. His clients may have gotten what they paid for….I should mention that tax preparer fraud is on this year’s list of the “Dirty Dozen” tax scams. As the IRS says, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Tags: WadeCook