A Broward County, Florida tax return preparer pleaded guilty today to conspiring to file and filing fraudulent tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), announced Acting U.S. Attorney Benjamin G. Greenberg for the Southern District of Florida and Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.
According to documents filed with the court, Frantz Petit-Dos, 41, owned two tax preparation businesses in Lauderhill, Florida: Imperial Taxation and Multi-Services Corp. and Aleluya Universal Accounting Services Inc., with Luczor Fertilien, 39, and David Joseph, 37. From approximately 2010 through 2016, Petit-Dos, Fertilien and Joseph filed fraudulent returns for their clients seeking refunds to which the clients were not entitled, by reporting fictitious business income, fraudulent education and fuel tax credits and claiming deceased individuals as dependents. They also filed returns in the names of individuals whose identities had been stolen. Petit-Dos did not report the illegal proceeds he received from this scheme on his personal tax returns and admitted to causing a tax loss of more than $550,000. On July 14, Fertilien and Joseph pleaded guilty to their involvement in this scheme.
Petit-Dos is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 6 before U.S. District Court Judge William P. Dimitrouleas. He faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison on the conspiracy count and a maximum sentence of three years in prison on the false return count. He also faces a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties. Fertilien and Joseph are scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 22.
Acting U.S. Attorney Greenberg and Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg thanked special agents of IRS Criminal Investigation and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, who conducted the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Karadbil and Assistant Chief Greg Tortella of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case.
Additional information about the Tax Division’s enforcement efforts can be found on the division’s website.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
