North Carolina Return Preparer Sentenced to Over 10 Years in Jail for Filing Fraudulent Returns

A Durham, North Carolina, tax return preparer was sentenced today to 121 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States and preparing fraudulent tax returns for herself and her clients, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Matthew G.T. Martin for the Middle District of North Carolina.

According to documents and information presented to the court, Keesha Frye, owned and operated KEF Professional Tax Services, a Durham tax preparation business.  From 2012 through 2014, Frye and other KEF employees falsified their clients’ tax returns by including fake and inflated sources of income to qualify for and maximize the earned income tax credit and increase the refunds claimed on the returns.  Frye also filed false personal income tax returns that claimed bogus childcare expenses and business losses.  In total, Frye’s scheme caused a tax loss of more than $1.7 million.

In addition to the prison term imposed, Frye was ordered to serve three years of supervised release and to pay $1,742,823 in restitution to the IRS.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and U.S. Attorney Martin commended special agents of IRS Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Tax Division Trial Attorney Nathan Brooks and Assistant U.S. Attorney Anand Ramaswamy, who prosecuted the case.

Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’s website.