A Georgia businessman has been sentenced to two years in prison for making and subscribing a false tax return.
Mohammed Ajmal, 49, of Cartersville, will have one year of supervised release and has been ordered to pay $734,232.05 restitution for not reporting income from more than $2 million in “kickback” payments from coin-operated amusement machines at service stations and convenience stores he owned, according to a Dec. 15 news release.
“Ajmal exploited his relatives in his plan to cheat the IRS out of hundreds of thousands of dollars,” U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan said in the release. “Ajmal is now headed to federal prison and will be required to pay full restitution as part of his sentence.”
Ajmal demanded additional money as kickbacks from the company holding the master license for the coin-operated amusement machines at his gas stations and convenience stores in the Cartersville, Ga., area. Ajmal demanded kickbacks in response to receiving less revenue from the machines because of Georgia Lottery Corporation’s regulations, according to the release.
“To disguise the kickback payments, Ajmal told the company to write checks to his relatives,” the release said. “Ajmal then used the monies for his own benefit, including to build a new home. From 2015 through 2018, the amount of the kickbacks totaled $2,292,847. Ajmal did not report any of this income on his tax returns for 2015 through 2017. So Ajmal paid less federal tax than he actually owed for those years.”
After he pleaded guilty, Ajmal was convicted of making and subscribing a false tax return July 12, 2022, the release said.
“The GBI Commercial Gambling Unit investigated this case along with federal and local partners,” Michael Register, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said in the release. “This defendant seeking to defraud the government by evading taxes is being held accountable.”
James Dorsey, special agent in charge with the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation, Atlanta Field Office, said Ajmal was “consumed by greed,” the release reported
“Mohammed Ajmal utilized his family members to hide income generated from kickbacks and filed a false tax return because he failed to report the income,” Dorsey said in the release. “IRS Criminal Investigation will continue to pursue anyone who commits tax fraud. Those harboring ideas on cheating the tax system, take note that prison time is a consequence for such actions.”
