Rochester Woman Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud

      ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Kenyatta Hubbard, 33, of Rochester, N.Y., pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States before U.S. District Judge David G. Larimer. The charge carries a maximum sentence 10 years in prison, a fine of $853,766, or both.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John J. Field, who is handling the case, stated that from 2010 to 2012, Hubbard worked at McFarland Tax Company preparing income tax returns. The defendant conspired with the owner of the business to prepare false income tax returns for clients. The scheme involved reporting fictitious employment in order to increase the Earned Income Tax Credit refunds claimed on behalf of the clients. As a result of the scheme, the United States was defrauded into paying tax refunds totaling $426,883.

The plea is the culmination of an investigation by Special Agents of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, under the direction of Shantelle P. Kitchen, Acting Special Agent in Charge, New York Field Office.