Orlando, Florida - U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton, Jr. sentenced Aaron Valley yesterday to 30 months in federal prison for aiding in the preparation of false tax returns. As part of his sentence, he was also ordered to pay $265,000 in restitution to the IRS. Valley pleaded guilty on Feb. 19, 2015.
According to his plea agreement, Valley prepared tax returns from his home for clients for tax years 2009 and 2010. As part of his scheme, Valley did not identify himself as the paid preparer on any of the tax returns. He was able to generate large refunds for his clients by preparing tax returns that claimed false filing status, fraudulent W-2 earnings, false Schedule C business expenses, and losses to maximize the earned income tax credit allowed to certain taxpayers. He charged up to $1,000 to prepare the tax returns. To ensure that he could collect his fees, Valley had the refunds deposited into a number of different bank accounts that he controlled or was able to access.
This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Shawn P. Napier.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
