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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Thursday, February 9, 2006

RALEIGH – On February 8, 2006, United States District Court Judge Terrence W. Boyle sentenced MARGARET YVONNE CRUDUP, 48, of Raleigh, North Carolina to a 15-month prison term for filing fraudulent tax returns. CRUDUP pled guilty on June 13, 2005, to twenty-two counts of making fraudulent claims on tax returns she prepared in her own name and in the names of others between tax years 2001 and 2003.

CRUDUP’S scheme was designed to obtain illegitimate tax refunds by making a variety of false claims on the returns she prepared, including false claims of dependents who either did not exist or were not actually dependents of the taxpayer on whose behalf the return was filed; fraudulent claims of inapplicable tax filing status; provision of false W-2 and employment information, and providing false information about Schedule C expenses for non-existent businesses. The total amount of fraudulently sought tax refunds is estimated at over $120,000.

Investigation of the case was conducted by the Criminal Investigations Unit of the Internal Revenue Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Exum, Jr. prosecuted the case for the United States.

News releases are available on the U. S. Attorney’s web page at www.usdoj.gov/usao/nce within 48 hours of release.