Owner Of Rocky Mount Based Tax Return Preparation Business Pleads Guilty To Conspiraracy
RALEIGH – United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that today in federal court, LARRY D. HILL, JR., a resident of Rocky Mount, N.C., pleaded guilty before Senior United States District Judge W. Earl Britt to one count of conspiring to submit false claims for federal income tax refunds to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and one count of filing a false 2010 federal income tax return.
“As a local businessman, Larry Hill has held himself out to the public as the ‘people’s champ.’ His guilty plea today to a sweeping tax fraud conspiracy shows us that he was very much the opposite,” commented U.S. Attorney Walker.
“In these challenging economic times, Mr. Hill admitted to conspiring to file false federal income tax returns. In essence, he used the IRS as his personal piggy bank, diverting scarce tax dollars from necessary government services to his pocketbook to fund his lifestyle,” said Special Agent in Charge Jeannine A. Hammett, IRS-Criminal Investigation.
According to the charging documents, HILL owned and operated Hill’s Tax Service (HTS), a tax return preparation business which, at various times, maintained offices in Rocky Mount, Farmville, Scotland Neck, Hollister, and Wilson. Between 2010 and 2012, HILL and his co-conspirators filed well over 2,000 federal income tax returns for HTS customers that claimed, collectively, over $14 million in tax refunds. Most of the HTS returns reported materially false information - including false dependents, income, and withholdings - in order to maximize the earned income tax credit and otherwise cause the issuance of inflated refunds. HILL and his co-conspirators pocketed a portion of every fraudulent tax refund that was issued. According to the criminal information, HILL personally collected, on average, $1,000 or more from each such refund.
At sentencing, HILL faces a statutory maximum penalty of 13 years imprisonment, a $500,000 fine, 4 years of supervised release, and $200 in special assessments.
The investigation of this case was conducted by IRS-Criminal Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Adam F. Hulbig.