FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or
MARCIA MURPHY at 410-209-4885
November 12, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MITCHELLVILLE TAX PREPARER SENTENCED
TO 30 MONTHS IN PRISON FOR FILING FALSE TAX RETURNS
Defrauded IRS of Over $500,000 in Taxes Due
Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus sentenced Lugard A. Edokpayi, age 51, of Mitchellville, Maryland, today to 30 months in prison followed by one year of supervised release for filing false federal individual tax returns, and preparing and presenting false federal tax returns for his clients, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.
According to Edokpayi’s plea agreement, from 1990 to 2006 Edokpayi owned and operated a tax preparation business known as New Century Tax Services located in Hyattsville, Maryland. From 2003 to 2007, Edokpayi filed individual income tax returns on behalf of his clients falsely reporting deductions for education credits, charitable contributions, child and dependent care expenses and unreimbursed business expenses. The tax loss resulting from this scheme is $137,611.
Additionally, for tax years 2003 through 2006, Edokpayi filed false personal income tax returns understating his gross income, resulting in a tax loss of $362,659.
The total tax loss arising out of Edokpayi’s conduct is $500,270.
“At the IRS, protecting taxpayer money is a matter we take extremely seriously. An integral part of the agency’s mission involves detecting and catching fraudulent tax refund claims," stated C. André Martin, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge. "The object of these schemes is to defraud the government and the taxpaying public.”
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation for its investigative work and commended Assistant United States Attorneys Stacy Dawson Belf and Stuart A. Berman, who prosecuted the case.