Delaware County Man Sentenced To 10 Years For Running Tax Fraud Scheme

Acting United States Attorney Louis D. Lappen today announced that yesterday, November 6, 2017, United States District Court Judge Harvey Bartle, III, sentenced Mohamed Mansaray, 41, of Springfield, Pennsylvania, to 120 months’ imprisonment for conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service, aiding and abetting the preparation of false federal income tax returns, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.  Mansaray, a former social worker, was the owner of Medman’s Financial Services, a tax preparation service with offices in Philadelphia. Medman’s filed numerous false federal income tax returns which generated fraudulent tax refunds, some as large as $9,000.  The defendant and his co–conspirators, other tax preparers at Medman’s, obtained stolen personal identity information of foster children and used that information as fraudulent dependents on numerous income tax returns prepared for Philadelphia clients. The stolen identities were purchased from Gebah Kamara, a former Catholic Social Services employee, who was sentenced to a 30-month prison term last week by Judge Bartle.  Kamara was paid approximately $200 to $300 for each child’s identity that was included on an income tax return accepted by the IRS for processing.   Mansaray charged clients a fee of as much as $800 for fraudulently including a false dependent on an income tax return.   Over 300 foster children’s identities were stolen and misused during the scheme.  

Mansaray was first charged with conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and aiding and abetting the preparation of false federal income tax returns in May 2013.  Mansaray pled guilty to those charges in July 2014.  Additional investigation showed that after he pled guilty Mansaray continued to prepare fraudulent income tax returns for clients.  Mansaray’s bail was revoked and he was imprisoned in May 2016, after he was charged again in April 2016 with numerous additional counts of aiding and abetting the preparation of false federal income tax returns, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.  Mansaray pled guilty to those charges in March 2017.   

Mansaray was ordered to pay $5,277.041 restitution for the loss to the Internal Revenue Service on the false income tax returns he prepared.   This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, the City of Philadelphia Office of the Inspector General, and the Social Security Administration OIG- Office of Investigations, and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Paul L. Gray and former Assistant United States Attorney Karen M. Klotz.