DES MOINES, Iowa - On Nov. 29, 2017, United States District Court Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger sentenced Lony Tap Gatwas, 48, of Ames, Iowa, to 21 months in prison for wire fraud and tax fraud, and 24 months for aggravated identity theft, to be served consecutively to one another, for a total of 45 months, announced United States Attorney Marc Krickbaum. Gatwas was also ordered to pay $132,585 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), serve three years of supervised release following his imprisonment, and pay $1,800 to the Crime Victims’ Fund.
On July 26, 2017, following a jury trial, Gatwas was found guilty of four counts of wire fraud, seven counts of aggravated identity theft, and seven counts of preparing and presenting false tax returns. Gatwas operated a tax preparation business in Des Moines. As stated in the indictment, Gatwas engaged in a scheme to defraud the IRS by preparing and filing personal income tax returns listing false dependents. During trial, the government presented evidence that Gatwas placed his own children, as well as other children, on his clients’ personal income tax returns as dependents, when these children had no relationship to the taxpayers, did not live with the taxpayers, and the taxpayers provided no financial support for the children.
Gatwas inflated his clients’ refunds by thousands of dollars by placing false dependents on his clients’ tax returns. Clients’ testimony established Gatwas charged them from $1,000 to $2,000 for each false dependent he put on their return. When his clients were audited, Gatwas instructed some clients to lie to IRS Revenue Agents about their relationship with the false dependents.
The IRS - Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation. This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.
Learn more about this release by calling Kevin E. VanderSchel at 515-473-9300, or by emailing him at Kevin.VanderSchel@usdoj.gov (link sends e-mail).
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
