Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and José A. Gonzalez, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), announce that defendant Ventrell Bouie, 46, of Fort Pierce, was sentenced today on charges of aiding and assisting the preparation and presentation of false tax returns, in violation of Title 26, United States Code, Section 7206(2).
Bouie was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jose E. Martinez in Fort Pierce to 24 months in prison, followed by one year of supervised release and a special assessment of $100. In addition, the Court ordered Bouie to pay restitution to the Government for tax losses of $288,478. The Court also noted that Bouie has agreed to be permanently enjoined by a Consent Judgment and Order filed in a parallel civil case, barring him in the future from ever preparing federal income tax returns for other persons.
According to statements made in open court and documents filed in the case, Bouie prepared multiple fraudulent tax returns for customers from January 2008 through December 2012. He prepared the returns, supplied false income and deduction figures, failed to review them in detail with the taxpayers, and then electronically filed them for those taxpayers.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of IRS-CI. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Theodore Cooperstein.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
