Carmen Basilis, a fugitive and owner of Basilis Tax Services, of Allentown, PA, was arrested this morning on a 58-count indictment charging tax violations, announced United States Attorney Zane David Memeger. Basilis had been a fugitive since her indictment on Sept. 27, 2011. She is charged with willfully aiding and assisting in the preparation and filing of false federal income tax returns. According to the indictment, Basilis prepared materially false federal income tax returns for tax years 2005 through 2008 by inflating expenses, deductions and dependency exemptions on the tax returns which caused the filers to receive tax refunds in amounts greater than they were entitled to receive.
An initial appearance was held today in Allentown. Basilis remains in custody pending an Aug. 17, 2015 detention hearing. If convicted of all charges, Basilis faces a statutory maximum of 174 years in prison, a fine of $14.5 million, a special assessment of $5,800, and one year of supervised release.
The case was investigated by Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations and the United States Department of Labor. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Floyd J. Miller.
An Indictment is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
