North Carolina Return Preparer Indicted for Tax Fraud Scheme
A federal grand jury sitting in Greenville, North Carolina, returned an indictment charging a North Carolina tax preparer with conspiracy to defraud the United States and with preparing false returns for clients, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Robert J. Higdon, Jr. for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
According to the indictment, from at least January 2016 through March 2016, Hildares Kinkesha Parker-Greene managed a tax return preparation business located in Kinston, North Carolina. Parker-Greene allegedly conspired with another tax preparer to fraudulently inflate clients’ tax refunds by claiming false wages, federal income tax withholdings, and dependents. This conduct allegedly caused clients to receive refunds to which they were not entitled. The indictment also charges that from 2017 through at least 2018, Parker-Greene operated a tax preparation business out of her home where she allegedly continued to assist in the preparation of clients’ false tax returns.
If convicted, Parker-Greene faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison and a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison for each filing false returns charge. She also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties.
An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and U.S. Attorney Higdon, Jr. commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Trial Attorneys Michael L. Jones and Terri-Lei O’Malley of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting this case.
Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’s website.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
