United States Attorney James T. Jacks
Northern District of Texas

FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 2010
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txn/

TAX PREPARER SENTENCED TO NEARLY SEVEN YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON

Defendant Convicted at Trial of Preparing Fraudulent Returns, Wire Fraud
and Aggravated Identity Theft

DALLAS — A local tax preparer, Teddy Gatamba, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Reed C. O’Connor to serve a total of 81 months in federal prison following his conviction in September 2009, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas.

Specifically, Gatamba was convicted on four counts of a superseding indictment charging conspiracy to defraud the government with respect to claims, two counts of wire fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft. That indictment also charged Romeo Mwambutsa with the conspiracy and related charges; Mwambutsa remains a fugitive.

“It is our hope that this sentence will send a strong message that tampering with the integrity of our nation's tax system can result in jail time. This is also a good time to remind taxpayers that they should be very careful when choosing a return preparer,” said Bridget Marchetta, Acting Special Agent in Charge, IRS-Criminal Investigation-Dallas Field Office. “Use the same high standards you would in selecting a doctor or lawyer. It is important to know that even if someone else prepares your return, you are ultimately responsible for all the information on the tax return.”

According to an order entered by the Court in May 2009 detaining Gatamba, evidence showed that Gatamba is a citizen of either Rwanda or Burundi, and was ordered deported in 1999. At the time of his arrest, Gatamba was in possession of two fake driver’s licenses, a fake passport, and multiple credit cards issued to persons other than himself.

At trial, the government presented evidence that Gatamba, who used the names of Grand Place Management, UST Tax Service, and Dendy Tax Service to obtain electronic filing identification numbers, 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. Gatamba 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 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 of more than $2 million.

The case was investigated by the IRS - Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Errin Martin and Steve Fahey.

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