The Feds’ Local Tax Busts Best-Of: The Chart-Topping Hits From 2009

There’s magic in these hits hot off the charts, all charged with original star power — pure power! New, from K-Tel and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, this hit parade of local tax preparers, investment advisers and other no-filing nogoodniks currently serving five to Top 10! The original hits of ’09 from the original stars!

You’ll find Teddy Gatamba, riding high on his hit “Wire Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft!” Then there’s that fabulous fraudulent trio known as Muyaba, Mudekunye & Henson! And Lanas Evans Troxler and his dancefloor smash “Sham Offshore Entities in the Turks & Caicos”! And: Steely Dan! Order yours today to guarantee arrival by April 15!

TAX PROSECUTION HIGHLIGHTS

Convicted Defendants in Tax Cases Serving Federal Prison Time

DALLAS – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of
Texas and the Dallas Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service,
Criminal Investigation, announced highlights of their recent work in
defending and enforcing the nation’s tax laws. The Northern District of
Teas has prosecuted numerous non-filers, tax preparers, and tax filers
who have violated federal law; most have been sentenced to serve time in
federal prison, without the possibility of parole.

Tax Preparer Sentenced to Nearly Seven Years in Federal Prison

Teddy Gatamba, is currently serving an 81-month sentence in
federal prison following his conviction at trial in September 2009 for
conspiring to defraud the government with respect to claims, wire fraud,
and aggravated identity theft. According to court documents, Gatamba
obtained the names and social security numbers of numerous individuals
and used that personal information to prepare false income tax returns,
without the knowledge or consent of the individuals. He prepared the
returns using bogus employer names and making bogus claims of
overpayment of taxes, and then filed the returns electronically. Refund
Anticipation Loans, in the form of checks and Refund Anticipation Value
Cards were issued, based on the false income tax returns, in the names
of the individuals on the bogus tax returns. Gatamba and others then
cashed the checks and withdrew funds from ATMs using the Refund
Anticipation Value Cards. Evidence presented at trial showed that there
was an intended loss to the government of more than $2 million.

Fort Worth Tax Preparer Sentenced To 18 Years in Federal Prison

Joyce M. Simmons, who did business as Diamond Notary and Tax
Service, is currently serving an 18-year federal prison sentence
following her guilty plea in June 2009 to six counts of preparing and
presenting a materially false tax return to the IRS. In addition, she
was ordered to pay $28,261,295 in restitution to the IRS. Simmons
admitted that six of the returns she submitted were false and fraudulent
in that each tax return represented that the taxpayers were entitled,
under IRS law, to claim exemptions, deductions, credits, or refunds, to
which she well knew they were not entitled. During the sentencing
hearing, the judge concluded that Simmons had also obstructed justice by
lying under oath on a number of occasions and by fraudulently
transferring more than $1 million worth of property after she became
aware that the IRS was investigating her.

Dallas Tax Preparers Receive Lengthy Federal Prison Sentences
for Roles in Conspiracy

Dallas resident, Fabian Muyaba, is currently serving a 10-year
federal prison sentence for conspiring to aid and assist in the
preparation of false and fraudulent income tax returns. He was also
ordered to pay $2.6 in restitution to the IRS. Muyaba, and co-defendant
Joseph Mudekunye, a part-time Dallas resident, and Como, Texas, resident
Nichelle Henson, who also worked as tax preparers, were each convicted
at trial in June 2009 on one count of conspiracy to aid and assist in
the preparation and presentation of false and fraudulent returns. In
addition, Mudekunye was convicted on three counts of aiding and
assisting in the preparation and presentation of false and fraudulent
income tax returns and two counts of using a means of identification of
another to commit a federal offense. Muyaba and Henson were each
convicted on six counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation and
presentation of false and fraudulent income tax returns.

Mudekunye is currently serving a 97-month federal prison
sentence; he was also ordered to pay more than $3.4 million in
restitution to the IRS. Henson is currently serving her 48-month
federal prison sentence; she was ordered to pay $2.3 million in
restitution to the IRS.

Evidence at trial revealed that Zimbabwe citizens, Mudekunye and
Muyaba, and Henson, who worked as tax preparers at Reliable Express Tax
Service and Reliable Professional Tax Service, on Skillman Street in
Dallas and at Efficient Tax Service and/or Proficient Tax Services LLC,
conspired together to prepare and file false and fraudulent IRS
Individual Tax Returns and profited from those fraudulent filings. The
government presented further evidence that the defendants willfully and
fraudulently reduced the amount of tax that was due to the IRS for their
clients by falsely claiming: head of household status, dependents,
business expenses, education credits, earned income credit and federal
telephone excise tax credits. In some instances, Mudekunye unlawfully
used the name and Social Security Number of another person to falsely
claim those individuals as dependents of some tax payers. For their
services, the defendants collected substantial cash payments from
clients for the return preparation, some clients paying up to $1,900 to
have a simple Form 1040 or 1040A prepared. The defendants concealed the
fact from their clients that they deducted substantial fees from the
clients’ Refund Anticipation Loan checks. In addition, the government
presented evidence that the defendants submitted returns using others’
electronic filer identification numbers, rather than their own, to
prevent the conspiracy from being discovered.

Former Investment Advisor Sentenced to 40 Months in Prison

Lanas Evans Troxler, a licensed investment advisor and estate
planner, is serving a 40-month federal prison sentence following his
conviction at trial for corruptly endeavoring to obstruct and impede the
due administration of the IRS laws, attempting to evade and defeat tax
and assisting in the preparation and presentation of false and
fraudulent tax returns. He was also ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.

According to evidence presented at trial, as a licensed
investment advisor and estate planner, Troxler, who did business as
Trust Management Services, Troxler Insurance Agency, Contingent
Liability Services, Troxler Financial Services and Troxler Advisory
Services, sold financial and tax advice to his clients. The tax loss
from Troxler’s activities was more than $630,000.

At trial, evidence was presented that beginning in November
1997, Troxler set up a complex series of sham offshore entities in the
Turks & Caicos Islands for himself and his clients to make the income
appear to be foreign-earned. Troxler and his clients retained full
control over their assets, businesses, and income earned from them, and
the income was taxable and should have been reported on federal
individual and business income tax returns. Trial evidence also showed
that Troxler sent a series of letters to an IRS Special Agent and a
former IRS Commissioner stating, among others things, that he was not a
U.S. citizen but an inhabitant of Texas, a Republic established by the
Spanish Land Grant.

Brownfield, Texas, Man Sentenced to Two Years in Prison for Failing to
File

Donald Agnew, a resident of Brownfield, Texas, in Terry County,
is currently serving a 24-month federal prison sentence following his
guilty plea in June 2009 to one count of tax evasion. Agnew was also
ordered to pay nearly $72,000 in restitution to the IRS. Agnew admitted
receiving approximately $191,722 in gross income in 2006 and to avoid
paying income tax due, failed to file an income tax return. He also
admitted trying to evade paying his taxes by filing a W-4 form with his
employer asserting that he was not subject to federal tax withholding;
by filing a Form W-8 stating he was a foreign person and exempt from
federal taxation; and by filing Forms 6540 and Affidavits of Citizenship
and Domicile with this employer stating that he was a foreign person and
was not required by law to pay taxes.

Castro County, Texas, Woman Sentenced to Three Years in Prison
for Preparing a False Return

Judy Darlene Welch, of Dimmitt, Texas, is currently serving a
36-month federal prison sentence for making or subscribing to a false
tax return. She was also ordered to pay nearly $179,000 in restitution
to the IRS. She pleaded guilty to the offense in September 2009,
admitting that during tax years 2003, 2004, and 2005, while she oversaw
bookkeeping and banking activities for several businesses, she diverted
approximately $622,875 from some of the business accounts and omitted
the income on her tax returns.