Texas Resident Charged with Tax Fraud and Financial Institution Fraud

A Texas woman who was the manager of a North Carolina tax preparation business was indicted today for multiple tax crimes and making false statements to banks on loan applications, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.

Tamny Denise Westbrooks of Fulshear, Texas, was charged in an indictment alleging between 2004 through 2009, she was the day-to-day manager of JATS Tax Service, a tax preparation business located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Westbrooks underreported her net profits from JATS by overstating business expenses for tax years 2007, 2008 and 2009. She also obstructed and impeded the IRS by filing false tax returns for herself and others and by paying workers in cash while failing to file the required forms reporting their compensation. The indictment further alleges that Westbrooks made false statements to her mortgage and automobile lenders on loan applications submitted in 2005 and 2007.

A trial date has not been scheduled. If convicted, Westbrooks faces statutory maximum sentences of three years in prison and a fine of $250,000 on each of the filing false return charges and the obstruction charge, and a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a fine of $1 million for each of the bank fraud charges.

The case was investigated by special agents of IRS – Criminal Investigation. Trial Attorneys Kevin Lombardi and Hayden Brockett of the Justice Department’s Tax Division are prosecuting the case.

An indictment merely alleges that a crime has been committed and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

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