Omaha Woman Sentenced for Tax Fraud

United States Attorney Joe Kelly announced that Latasha Ellis, age 44, of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced today by the Honorable Laurie Smith Camp.  Ellis had previously entered a plea of guilty to conspiracy to defraud the government.  Ellis was sentenced to 6 months’ imprisonment to be followed by 3 years of supervised release.  She was also ordered to pay $280,442 in restitution to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

From January 2012 until December 2014, Ellis and co-defendant Niquisha Taylor conspired to defraud the United States and the United States Department of the Treasury by obtaining and aiding to obtain the payment of a fraudulent claim by filing and assisting others in filing false tax returns.  As part of their scheme, tax returns were filed that had false Schedules C, Profit or Loss from Business.  By including false Schedules C, an individual’s earned income was inflated which had the effect of maximizing the amount of Earned Income Tax Credit the taxpayer would receive back. There were 55 tax returns filed as part of their scheme.  Taylor previously pled guilty and was sentenced to 3 years of supervised, 120 hours of community, and also ordered to the $280,442 in restitution jointly and severally with Ellis.  That is, they are each responsible for the entire amount offset by whatever amount the other pays.

The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations.