Owner of Financial Services Business Sentenced to Prison

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – An Annandale man was sentenced today to nine years in prison for conspiracy, aiding in the preparation of false tax returns, mail and wire fraud.

According to court records and evidence presented at trial, Jose Manlapaz, 55, owned and operated a tax preparation business named JBM Financial Services or JBM Financial Group in Falls Church. Between 2007 and 2017, Manlapaz prepared thousands of false tax returns for his clients by adding false or inflated items, including education credits, childcare expenses, and fake business expenses. Manlapaz knew that the items he added to client returns would cause many clients to be audited, and set up a document mill in the Philippines called TMendoza Accounting Services to fabricate fake receipts and tax forms that he could submit on behalf of his clients to the IRS. Manlapaz made money by charging higher fees for getting clients higher refunds and for preparing fraudulent responses to IRS audit notices. After the IRS-CI searched JBM in 2013, and up until a second search of JBM in 2017, Manlapaz and JBM kept preparing false tax returns, but removed his preparer information so it looked like his clients were submitting the returns themselves. A search of his residence and two safe deposit boxes in 2017 resulted in the seizure of over $1.3 million in cash and valuables, including Rolex watches. The investigation also revealed that Manlapaz had also wired approximately $1.5 million to the Philippines during the conspiracy. 

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Kelly R. Jackson, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Washington, D.C. Field Office, IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Katherine L. Wong and Kimberly R. Pedersen prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:17-cr-115.