James T. Jacks
Acting United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

FEDERAL JURY CONVICTS DALLAS TAX PREPARERS IN CONSPIRACY

Defendants Worked at Reliable Express Tax Service and
Reliable Professional Tax Service in Dallas

DALLAS — Following a three-day trial before U.S. District Judge Reed C. O’Connor, a federal jury has convicted three Dallas-area tax preparers on various offenses related to a conspiracy they ran to defraud the U.S. by preparing and filing false and fraudulent income tax returns, and profiting from those filings, announced Acting U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas.

Part-time Dallas residents, Joseph Mudekunye and Fabian Muyaba, and Como, Texas, resident, Nichelle Henson, were each convicted 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.

In addition to stating their residences, the indictment states that Mudekunye and Muyaba are citizens of Zimbabwe. At trial, Muyaba testified that he is an Olympic athlete, having competed on his country’s track team in the 1988 and 1992 Olympics. He holds the record for the 100-meter sprint in Zimbabwe.

The conspiracy count carries a maximum statutory sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Each of the substantive tax counts carries a maximum statutory sentence of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Each of the using a means of identification of another to commit a federal offense counts carries a maximum statutory sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. All three defendants are scheduled to be sentenced by Judge O’Connor on September 24, 2009. Mudekunye and Muyaba remain in federal custody and Henson remains released on conditions.

 The government presented evidence at trial that the defendants, who worked as tax preparers at Reliable Express Tax Service and Reliable Professional Tax Service, at 9203 Skillman Street in Dallas, and two of whom also worked at Efficient Tax Service and/or Proficient Tax Services LLC, conspired together to prepare and file IRS Individual Tax Returns, Forms 1040 and 1040A, which were false and fraudulent. In addition, the defendants profited from these fraudulent filings. Another object of their conspiracy was to obtain additional clients by generating favorable word-of-mouth advertising from clients who received unexpected refunds.

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 $1900 for the preparation of a simple Form 1040 or 1040A.

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.

The case is being investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph M. Revesz and Amy J. Mitchell are prosecuting.

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