FEDERAL COURT PERMANENTLY BARS MINNESOTA MAN FROM PREPARING TAX RETURNS FOR OTHERS

St. Paul Resident Prepared Fraudulent Returns for African-Immigrant Customers

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A federal court in Minnesota has issued a permanent order barring Nash Sonibare, who operated Liberty Financial Group in St. Paul, Minn., from preparing federal income tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. The permanent injunction order was entered on February 5, 2007, by Judge Donovan Frank of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

The government complaint alleged that Sonibare, a Nigerian immigrant, repeatedly prepared returns for his customers containing false or inflated credits and deductions. The complaint alleged that many of Sonibare’s customers are recent immigrants with limited English-language skills from various African countries, including Somalia, Ethopia, Eritrea, Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon.

The court found that Sonibare repeatedly prepared federal income tax returns that contained false or inflated Schedule C expenses, false Schedule C businesses, false or inflated Schedule C business losses, false education credits, false dependency exemptions, and other fraudulent items. A Schedule C reports profits and losses from businesses and is used for sole proprietorships.

The Justice Department has sought and obtained injunctions against more than 220 federal tax promoters and preparers since 2001. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department Tax Division’s Web site at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/taxpress2006.htm. More information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division can be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax.