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October 1, 2023

Bogus tax returns

Your Naughty IRS Employee of the Day

Deena Vang Lee of Fresno, CA, was indicted in April 2019 and charged with wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of false and fraudulent tax returns, and making and subscribing false and fraudulent tax returns. She was accused of preparing family and friends’ returns for a fee that […]

Your Naughty IRS Employee of the Week

That dubious award goes to longtime IRS employee Wayne Garvin, who might be hanging out in Club Fed for as long as five years after pleading guilty to tax evasion on March 22. Garvin, 57, a resident of Columbia, SC, who most recently worked as a supervisory associate advocate with the IRS’s Taxpayer Advocate Service […]

Your Naughty Tax Preparer of the Day

Yes, busy season sucks. But getting sentenced to nearly three years in federal prison during busy season sucks way more. Still, I don’t think any of our friends on Tax Twitter are going to feel sorry for Nikia Tull of Norfolk, VA, who was recently sentenced to 33 months in the pokey for wire fraud […]

Your Naughty Tax Preparer of the Day

After being indicted last week on 35 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false and fraudulent tax returns and two counts of willfully failing to file personal income tax returns, Ametra Q. Wooden should probably change the name of her tax preparation business to F Plus Tax Experts & Financial Services, amirite? […]

Your Naughty Tax Preparer of the Day

Aminta Smith, a former tax preparer in Charlotte, NC, was given 30 months to think about her choices. According to the sentencing hearing, court documents and evidence presented at trial, Smith owned and operated a Charlotte-based tax preparation business, Touch by Angels Tax Services, also known as Touch by Angels Accounting Services and Smith Tax […]

Your Naughty Tax Preparer of the Day

It might just be me but it seems that tax preparation businesses with unscrupulous owners have the most ridiculous names. Would you really trust getting your taxes done correctly and legally at a place called Tax Terminatorz? Well, people did and in the process were part of Tax Terminatorz’s grand plan to screw the IRS […]

Your Naughty Tax Preparer of the Day

The owner of InTouch Tax Solutions in Dallas won’t be touching anyone’s tax returns for quite a while. The Feds said: A North Dallas tax return preparer was sentenced to 3½ years in prison and ordered to pay $11.9 million in restitution for filing fraudulent income tax returns, announced Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern […]

Your Naughty Tax Preparer of the Day

If you search for reviews on Yelp of the best tax preparation firms in the Bronx, it’s no surprise you don’t see RAP Tax Services among them. Maybe it’s because the owner admitted to submitting false and fraudulent tax returns on behalf of clients, falsely claiming dependents, nonexistent charitable deductions, or bogus business expenses. Yeah, […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: E Is for Embezzlement, This Lady Is a Wreck, Records Destruction!

Plus, a U.K. accountant is going to spend some time in jail for stealing money from two nursery schools, which she used to treat herself to a new kitchen. Accountant arrested for embezzling $1.2 million from furniture firm [Woodworking Network] Manuel “Mendy” Goldring was arrested on Feb. 18 for allegedly embezzling $1.2 million from Academia […]

Your Naughty Tax Preparer of the Day

Like father, like son. On Nov. 5, 2013, Cleo Reed was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Washington for filing more than 1,300 fraudulent tax returns between October 2007 and July 2010, resulting in a tax loss of $4.2 million. Authorities said Reed inflated […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Insider Trader Settles with SEC, Embezzler Gets Jail Time, Maritime Thief

Plus, accountant’s tax fraud conviction upheld in court, and a Canadian accountant is banned by financial regulator. SEC charges biotechnology company CPA with insider trading [SEC] Jana Faith Kiena, CPA, a former contract accountant in the revenue recognition group at biotech company Illumina, will pay about $374,000 to settle insider trading charges for using confidential […]

Tax Preparers Behaving Badly: Getting Barred, Facing Jail Sentence, Doin’ Time

Usually this column is reserved for accountants doing bad things. But this week we are focusing on the worst of the worst tax preparers. Federal court permanently bars former Liberty Tax Service owners from tax preparation business [Justice Department] Steven Doletzky was permanently barred by a federal court in Tampa, FL, from operating a tax […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Guilty Plea In Panama Papers Case, NY Accounting Firm Arraigned, Owning Up to Ponzi Scheme

Plus, accountants from India are in hot water for embezzlement and fraud, and a Florida law firm accountant charged with attempted first-degree murder faces additional charges. Accountant Pleads Guilty Ahead of Trial in Panama Papers Case [Wall Street Journal] Richard Gaffey pleaded guilty in federal court on Feb. 28 to charges he helped a client […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Jail Time for Filing False Tax Returns, and BDO Malawi Given Stiff Fine

Plus, accountants in India got into trouble for fraud, duping investors, and forgery, while an accountant in Australia was charged for allegedly defrauding a business out of $200,000. Delaware County business owner sentenced to 4+ years in prison for stealing funds from clients, filing false forms with the IRS [Justice Department] Accountant Myles Hannigan was […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Golf Club Thievery, Ripping Off Nonprofit, Tax Collector Gets Jail Time

Plus, tax preparers from Louisiana, Mississippi, and New York got into some trouble. Former accountant at Somerby Golf Club in southeast MN charged with stealing $450,000 from business [CBS Minnesota] Gordon Craig Perkins, who was in charge of handling the money, expenses, and bills for Somerby Golf Club in Byron, MN, was charged last week […]

Arthur Andersen & Co.

Accountants Behaving Badly: Andersen Alum Charged with Fraud, Sentencing Postponed In Nxivm Case, Embezzler Jailed

Plus, a Las Vegas tax preparer pleaded guilty to filing bogus returns, and a New Jersey tax preparer pleaded guilty to tax evasion. Naperville man convicted of theft 25 years ago charged again with swindling woman’s estate [Chicago Tribune] Raymond Parcon, who went to federal prison 25 years ago for embezzling more than $1 million […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Jailed Over Child Porn, Andersen Alum Fired By Law Firm, Nursery Thievery

Plus, ex-Las Vegas CPA pleads guilty to bribery, and a bookkeeper is accused of stealing $400,000 from two family businesses. San Rafael accountant, ex-Boy Scouts volunteer gets prison for child porn possession [KPIX] John Blecka, CPA, was sentenced in federal court in San Francisco on Jan. 14 to two years and nine months in prison […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Ex-Senator’s Tax Guy Gets 18 Months, Embezzling $65M From Clients, Swindling Chamber of Commerce

Plus, retired Arkansas accountant pleads guilty to bank fraud, and soon-to-be-jailed Wisconsin accountant used stolen tax refunds to buy a hooker and drugs. Accountant who helped Brian Joyce evade taxes sentenced to 18 months in prison [Boston Globe] John Nardozzi, a CPA from Waltham, MA, who conspired with former Massachusetts senator Brian Joyce to cheat […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Too Many Pints, Fraudster Gets 18 Months In Jail, Egypt Tax Authority Chief Arrested

Plus, a couple of tax preparers thought they could get away with defrauding the IRS. They were wrong. Drunk trainee accountant crashed car after Leeds night out [The Yorkshire Post] Archie Scott was banned from driving for 20 months and was sentenced to 12 months of community order with 50 hours unpaid work after he […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Deloitte Malaysia Partner Fined, Guilty Plea In $1.2M Scam, Jailed for Xmas

Plus, several tax preparers have run afoul of the law. SC fines Deloitte’s partner for non-compliance [The Malaysian Reserve] Huang Khean Yeong, a partner at Deloitte PLT, was fined RM63,000 by the Securities Commission Malaysia’s Audit Oversight Board on Dec. 26 for failing to comply with the international standards on auditing when performing an audit of […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Sexually Assaulting Children, Guilty Plea In Visa Fraud Case, A Roudy Theft

Plus, U.K. accountant charged with misleading pensions regulator, and an Isle of Man chartered accountant is banned. Accountant, 57, and his boyfriend, 56, are jailed for total of 30 years after sexually assaulting children as young as 11 while they filmed their sick acts [Daily Mail] Asswipes. Richard Townsend, 57, abused children as young as […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: 367 *Years* In Jail, Scamming the Elderly, Wire Fraud Indictment

Plus, Kia Motors bookkeeper’s embezzlement case continued to January, and tax preparer gets 27-month sentence in scheme to defraud the U.S. Accountant sentenced to 367 years in prison [Onlanka.com] A court in Colombo, Sri Lanka, sentenced Hikkaduwa Liyanage Nandasiri, the former accountant of a public company, to 367 years of rigorous imprisonment [emphasis added] after […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Retirement Fund Theft, Defrauding Nursing Home, Fraudster Going to Jail

Plus, two tax preparers, who as it turned out weren’t registered tax preparers, are sentenced for filing false tax returns. Plymouth accountant charged with stealing from county retirement board [Wicked Local] Paul Hurley, the former accountant of the Plymouth County Retirement Association, is accused of stealing money from the fund. He was arrested on Nov. […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Ex-KPMG Auditor Detained, Stealing From Clients, Ripping Off Boss

Plus, healthcare accountant sentenced to two years in jail for embezzlement, and tax preparer gets three years for filing fraudulent tax returns. Auditor detained after saying devil told him to kill his sister [Metro U.K.] Khalid Ashraf, who had worked as an auditor for KPMG for eight years until October 2018, pleaded guilty to manslaughter […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Drugs and Sex Trafficking, Bookkeeper Busted for Embezzlement, Visa Fraud

Plus, a bunch of tax preparers are going to be spending some quality time in jail. Kentucky man charged with sex trafficking, drug conspiracy [Associated Press] Mark Milslagle, a former Kentucky accountant accused of paying for sex with young women who were addicted to drugs, faces federal conspiracy charges. Milslagle, 49, was charged on Nov. […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Jailed Over Ponzi Scheme, Firm Fined In Pot Bust, Embezzlement Admission

Plus, tax preparers plead guilty to preparing fraudulent returns, and the owner of a tax preparation business failed to file his own taxes. Gambling accountant gets 14 years for $396M Ponzi scheme [Law360] Texas CPA Jay Ledford will serve 14 years in federal prison for his supporting role in a Ponzi scheme that netted $396 […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Train Station Turd, College Crook, Fake CPA’s Fraud

Plus, a New South Wales accountant got jail time for stealing moola from clients, and a Texas tax preparer is going to prison for a while for defrauding the U.S. Drunk trainee accountant who pushed man onto Tube tracks has sentence increased [The Times] Mathuram Muthuraja, a trainee accountant who drunkenly pushed another man onto […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Rogue Tax Preparers, Suzuki Theft, Kiddie Porn

Plus, Filipino accountant gets jail time for embezzlement, and a CFO will spend time in a Canadian prison for stealing money to fund her opioid addiction. Former New Haven tax preparer pleads guilty [Justice Department] Devon Williams pleaded guilty on Oct. 2 to one count of aiding and assisting the preparation of a false tax […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Big 4 Scammer, Dude Got His Nads Cut Off, Refund Stealing

Plus, accountant sentenced to seven years in jail for fraud, and church-swindling accountant gets sentenced to three months in prison. Accountant tricked girlfriend out of thousands in cancer scam [Accountancy Daily] Badal Arun Hindocha, who cheated his Internet girlfriend out of £4,300 by claiming he was dying from stomach cancer, received a suspended jail sentence […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: FUBARed Over FBARs, Fake Returns, Landscaping Larceny

You are probably having a better Labor Day than these six accountants. Former CPA indicted for failing to report foreign bank accounts and filing false documents with the IRS [Justice Department] Ex-CPA Brian Booker was charged by a federal grand jury on Aug. 27 with failing to file Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Fraudsters Go to Court and Prison Time For Stalking Ex

Plus, a Maryland CPA and a California CPA both get jail time for embezzlement. Newton accountant charged with wire fraud and filling false tax return [U.S. Justice Department] Jeffrey Kellem, an accountant from Newton, MA, was charged with four counts of wire fraud and one count of filing a false tax return on Aug. 5 […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Form 941 Shenanigans, Embezzlement, Stealing From Mom

Here are some accountants who failed badly at being a trusted advisor. Delaware County accountant charged with multiple tax offenses [Justice Department] Myles Hannigan, an accountant from Newtown Square, PA, was charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on July 3 with one count of obstructing the due administration of […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Beating Up Ex-Wife, Tax Crimes, Stealing Lots of Money

Spend some time this Memorial Day remembering those who died serving our country and reading about how awful some people in your profession really are. Asian accountant smashed ex-wife’s head against a car outside David Lloyd centre and called her a ‘bacon basher’ after she began dating a white man who worked at their lettings […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Busted with Meth, Stealing From Clients, Bank Fraud

A look at the best of the worst accountant malfeasance around the globe over the past week or so. British accountant, 47, faces the death penalty in the Philippines ‘after being caught with meth in a drugs raid’ [Daily Mail] Philip Joseph was in a flat with two locals when police burst through the door […]

NBA Player Zaza Pachulia’s Former Accountant Pleads Guilty to Identity Theft, Probably Never Will Have Basketball Clients Again

In dubious accountant news, Randy Usow of Mequon, Wis., has agreed to plead guilty to one count of theft of government property and one count of identity theft after stealing more than $800,000 by submitting fraudulent tax returns in the name of NBA player Zaza Pachulia and his wife, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Pachulia, […]

Feds Not Amused by Area Man’s Crank Calls to Coast Guard, Filing of Tax Returns for Hookers

So. You’re 22 years old, you operate an Internet escort service out of your house and you’re feeling a little bored. What’s a man-child to do?

Well, making the assumption that you spend a lot of your spare time watching old Crank Yankers episodes, you might ring up the Coast Guard and tell them a shuttle at the Kennedy Space Center is about to be under attack.

Or if that doesn’t get the fired stoked in your plums, try calling them up again to say that your yacht is sinking off the coast of New York with ’10 souls’ on board.

Yeah! That’s the ticket:

Nicholas Barbati of Daytona Beach twice made the U.S. Coast Guard scramble to check out false information he gave them on separate occasions — including reports of a threat from the sea headed for a space shuttle about to take off from the Kennedy Space Center, federal officials said Tuesday.

Barbati, 22, also called the Coast Guard in Washington, D.C., to tell them his 32-foot yacht was sinking off the coast of New York, investigators said.

Oh. And about those escorts, “Barbati pleaded guilty to the two hoax cases in August, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Then, in October, Barbati pleaded guilty to filing false claims with the IRS. He filed income tax returns for prostitutes employed by his Internet escort service operating out of his house, investigators said.”

Now you may be thinking that Barbati was just a little mischievous and he just made some poor decisions. Let us dispel that notion from your head right now:

Barbati’s computer was seized and it showed Barbati had made 584 other harassing and hoax calls. Between May and June 2009, Barbati made “swatting” calls to law enforcement dispatch centers around the world so dispatchers could not identify where the calls came from, investigators said.

In one case, Barbati told dispatchers he was going to kill a baby if the police did not arrive soon and gave a fictitious address, the release said.

But back to the hookers for second – if you’re going to provide employer-prepared tax returns, the least you could do is prepare the them accurately. You don’t want the Better Business Bureau on your case.

Prank calls to Coast Guard, dispatch centers land man in federal prison [DBNJ]

Houston Tax Prep Shop Duped Homeless People into Taking Free Cash

If somebody is handing out free money, why would you ask questions?


Some favorite moments:

Homeless dude: “Here’s a stack of cash. It’s yours.”

Homeless dude: “Boom, it sounds good, so you’re going to jump on it.”

Tax worker: “Your return is $1,266.”
Homeless person: “How can that be?”
Tax worker: “Um, uh, for housekeeping.”
Homeless person: “This isn’t going to get me in trouble or anything?”
Tax worker: “Nuh uh (no), because it was cash, you know, you could have done housekeeping at your friends, family.”

Reporter: “You had no idea this was going on?
Dubious businessman: “No sir.”
Reporter: “And you expect us to believe that?”
Dubious businessman: “Yes.”
Reporter: “And you expect our viewers to believe that?
Dubious businessman: “Yes.”

Houston tax office filing bogus returns for homeless people to make big bucks [KHOU.com]

IRS Agent Who Threw Temper Tantrum Faces 55 Years for Threatening Treasury Agents, Filing False Returns

Last summer we told you about an IRS agent who threw a temper tantrum after threatening to kill Treasury Agents they showed up to search his home.

Just briefly refresh, after the agents stopped Albert Bront from going back into his house, where he kept three loaded guns (no doubt they were Remingtons), he was shoved into the back of the car where “he kicked the front seat of the law enforcement vehicle and pounded the door with his elbow.”


Besides the small matter of telling Federal Agents that ‘I’m Going to Kill All of You!’ Bront has also been indicted for filing false returns and helping others file false tax returns. Web CPA reports that he is convicted on all 16 counts in the indictment he faces 55 years in adult prison.

While we are firmly against the violence, we fully support seat kicking, foot stomping, pouting and all around conniption fits for those that feel wronged by the IRS. At the very least, it’s more effective than marching on the Internet.

IRS Agent Indicted for Threatening Investigators [Web CPA]