CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A Charlotte-area tax return preparer was handed down a 27-month prison sentenced today for aiding or assisting in the filing of a false claim for tax refund, announced Jill Westmoreland Rose, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Fitzroy E. Lawrence, 48, of Charlotte, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn to serve 2 years under court supervision and to pay $2,635,641.00 as restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
U.S. Attorney Rose is joined in making today’s announcement by Thomas J. Holloman, III, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI).
According to the filed court documents and today’s sentencing hearing, for tax years 2008 through 2011, Lawrence aided and assisted in the preparation of hundreds of false tax returns which were filed with the IRS, seeking fraudulent tax refunds totaling approximately $2.6 million. Court records show that many of the filed fraudulent tax returns included false wages and false dependent information. In June 2015, Lawrence pleaded guilty to one count of aiding or assisting in filing a false claim against the United States.
Judge Cogburn noted that that conduct in this case was “egregious" and emphasized the importance for all Americans to pay their fair share of taxes.
Lawrence will be ordered to report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons to begin serving his sentence upon designation of a federal facility. All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.
IRS-CI investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Jenny G. Sugar of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte was in charge of the prosecution. Jenny G. Sugar of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte was in charge of the prosecution.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
