Month: February 2023

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A federal court in the Eastern District of Michigan has endorsed an agreed preliminary injunction barring a Detroit-area tax return preparer and her businesses from preparing federal tax returns for others until the date on which trial on whether a permanent injunction is warranted occurs.

The preliminary injunction was entered against Annetta Powell and her tax preparation businesses, known to customers as “The Tax Experts,” and registered to do business in Michigan under varying entity names: Alliance Tax Services, Inc., Nationwide Tax Services, Inc., Tax Expert Stores, Inc., United Tax Services, Inc., Top Financial Specialists, Inc. doing business as The Tax Experts, United Financial Team Corporation doing business as The Tax Experts, and Speedy Tax Stores Corporation doing business as The Tax Experts. The preliminary injunction also enjoins Jasmine Powell from preparing or filing federal tax returns. According to the amended complaint filed against the defendants, Powell and her companies had prepared returns that, among other things, reported inflated or fraudulent business losses, claimed false or inflated earned income credits, reported fraudulent filing statues, and claimed improper education credits, all of which resulted in tax refunds to which customers were not entitled. According to the amended complaint, the fraudulent tax returns that Powell and her business prepared for customers cost the United States over one and a half million dollars in tax revenue.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.

Taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant against unscrupulous tax preparers. The IRS has information on its website for choosing a tax preparer, has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers, and offers information on how to avoid “ghost” tax preparers, whose refusal to sign a return should be a red flag to taxpayers. The IRS also offers 10 tips to avoid tax season fraud and ways to safeguard their personal information. 

In addition, IRS Free File, a public-private partnership, offers free online tax preparation and filing options on IRS partner websites for individuals whose adjusted gross income is under $72,000. For individuals whose income is over that threshold, IRS Free File offers electronical federal tax forms that can be filled out and filed online for free.

In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found this page. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A defendant who broke into a Broken Arrow home and assaulted a woman and man in 2017 was sentenced Friday in federal court, announced U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson.

U.S. District Judge Gregory K. Frizzell sentenced Louis Clayton Chaffin, 45, of Tahlequah, to 84 months in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release.

Chaffin previously pleaded guilty to first degree burglary in Indian Country and three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily harm in Indian Country.

“Louis Chaffin broke into a home wielding a bat and gun. He then assaulted two victims, seriously injuring them. Fortunately, the incident was deescalated when the homeowner stepped in and stopped him,” said U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson. “Today’s 7-year sentence should make it clear that this office and our law enforcement partners will hold violent perpetrators accountable.”

Chaffin admitted that on Dec. 9, 2017, he broke into the home by kicking in the front door and while carrying an aluminum baseball bat and a 9mm pistol. Chaffin struck the man and woman with the bat repeatedly. He pointed the gun at the man and pistol whipped him in the face. The incident only ended after another individual, the homeowner, took out his own gun and ordered Chaffin to leave.

As a result of the assault, the male victim suffered broken facial bones and a fractured skull. The female victim suffered a concussion from the beating, and her face later required numerous stitches.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Broken Arrow Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael F. Harder and Eric O. Johnston prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta traveled to Memphis today to attend the investiture of U.S. Attorney Kevin Ritz for the Western District of Tennessee and meet with local Memphis officials and community leaders.

Associate Attorney General Gupta met with Mayor Jim Strickland and Police Chief C.J. Davis to discuss the city’s request for assistance from the CRI-TAC initiative, funded by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) as well as the city’s response to the tragic death of Tyre Nichols. The Justice Department’s ongoing federal criminal civil rights investigation into the death of Tyre Nichols is being handled jointly by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee, the Civil Rights Division and the FBI.

In a meeting with two dozen local faith and community leaders, the Associate Attorney General heard from local leaders about the need for fair policing, as well as their efforts on the ground to support those most at risk of becoming intertwined with the criminal justice system. She discussed the department’s programs, including those that support police community trust and community violence intervention efforts, and the department’s ongoing efforts to make grant funding more accessible to local community groups.

In the afternoon, Western District of Tennessee District Judge S. Thomas Anderson presided over the investiture of U.S. Attorney Kevin Ritz. Associate Attorney General Gupta spoke at the ceremony, along with former U.S. Attorney Edward L. Stanton III and the Honorable Julia S. Gibbons of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, for whom U.S. Attorney Ritz served as a law clerk. The investiture was attended by several federal district and court of appeals judges, as well as local law enforcement and community leaders and elected officials.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Two individuals were sentenced today to six years in prison for their roles in a cattle-trading Ponzi scheme that resulted in millions of dollars in victim losses.

According to court documents, from late 2017 until early 2019, Reva Joyce Stachniw, 71, of Galesburg, Illinois, and Ron Throgmartin, 59, of Buford, Georgia, along with a co-conspirator, ran a Ponzi scheme by fraudulently representing to victims that their investments were backed by short-term investments in Stachniw and Throgmartin’s cattle and marijuana businesses. The victim-investors gave the conspirators money based on false promises that their investments would be used for legitimate activities related to those businesses. In actuality, the funds were used to pay earlier investors.

In August 2022, Stachniw and Throgmartin were convicted at trial of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, five counts of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

In addition to their terms of imprisonment, Stachniw was ordered to pay $14,597,335.80 in restitution and to forfeit $6,013,370. Throgmartin was ordered to pay $14,597,335.80 in restitution and to forfeit $1,004,904.83. The restitution was ordered jointly and severally between the two.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Special Agent in Charge Kyle A. Myles of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General (FDIC-OIG), Atlanta Region; Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division; and Special Agent in Charge Oliver E. Rich Jr. of the FBI San Antonio Field Office made the announcement.

The FDIC-OIG and the FBI investigated the case. 

Assistant Chief Scott Armstrong and Trial Attorneys Brandon Burkart and Michael McCarthy of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the case.