Two Florida Tax Preparers Sentenced to Prison

Two Florida tax preparers were sentenced to prison yesterday for conspiring to defraud the United States and preparing false tax returns.

Nikency Alexis, the owner and operator of Unity Tax & Financial Services (Unity Tax), a Broward County tax preparation business, was sentenced to 45 months  in prison, and Thony Guillaume, who worked as a return preparer at Unity Tax, was sentenced to 40 months in prison. According to court documents, from 2011 through 2016, Alexis and Guillaume conspired to defraud the IRS by preparing returns for clients that claimed fictitious business and education expenses the clients never incurred. After learning about the criminal investigation, Alexis and Guillaume continued to file false returns and concealed their involvement in the filing of those returns by listing other individuals as the paid preparers. In total, Alexis and Guillaume sought more than $2.8 million in fraudulent refunds from the IRS.

In addition to the terms of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Raag Singhal ordered Alexis to serve three years of supervised release and to pay approximately $464,006 in restitution to the IRS. The judge ordered Guillaume to serve three years of supervised release and to pay approximately $221,823 in restitution to the IRS.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez for the Southern District of Florida made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Matthew Hicks of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Deric Zacca for the Southern District of Florida prosecuted the case.