DALLAS - Rene Barrera, Sr, of Del Rio, Texas, who was one of several tax preparers at Tax Genius in Richardson, Texas, appeared in federal court Tuesday, May 8, 2018, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez and pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a fraudulent tax return, announced U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox of the Northern District of Texas.
Sentencing is set for Dec. 14, 2018, before Chief U.S. District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn. Barrera faces a statutory maximum penalty of three years in federal prison and a $100,000 fine. He may also be ordered to pay restitution.
On Sept. 21, 2016, Barrera and co-defendants Jimmy Luis Briseno, Mike Cano and Christopher Lee DeLeon were charged with conspiracy to defraud the IRS and other charges related to the filing of false tax returns. According to the factual resume filed in the case, from January 2011 through April 2011, Barrera prepared and electronically filed taxes at Tax Genius in Richardson, Texas. In his plea papers, Barrera admitted that he and other employees prepared and caused to be electronically filed with the IRS individual income tax returns that contained one or more of the following falsely inflated or fictitious items: false Forms Schedule C; false and fabricated Education Credits, and false items used to inflate and maximize the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) on the tax return. During this period, Barrera and other Tax Genius employees engaged in a fraudulent scheme in which false and fraudulent information and documents were submitted to the IRS with the intent to defraud the IRS by causing the IRS to pay fraudulent refunds based on this false tax information.
Barrera caused the filing of eight false tax returns resulting in a tax loss of $67,100 due to false refunds claimed.
IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Jarvis is in charge of the prosecution.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
