Category: US Department of Justice

Source: United States Department of Justice News

The United States has filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida seeking to bar a Belle Glade, Florida, tax return preparer from owning or operating a tax return preparation business and preparing tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. The civil suit against Brandhi Shaw alleges that Shaw prepares returns claiming false refundable fuel credits and American Opportunity tax credits. In addition, the complaint alleges that Shaw prepares returns claiming fabricated businesses income and/or expenses, and related fictitious losses. As a result, the complaint alleges Shaw offset the amount of taxable income reported to make it appear that her customers were entitled to earned income tax credits when they were not.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A national electronic health records (EHR) technology vendor based in Watertown, Massachusetts, athenahealth Inc. (Athena), has agreed to pay $18.25 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by paying unlawful kickbacks to generate sales of its EHR product, athenaClinicals, the Justice Department announced today.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A federal court in the Southern District of Florida has permanently enjoined a West Palm Beach tax return preparer and her business from preparing federal income tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. According to the court’s order, it issued the injunction in response to violations of a prior order in the case that had allowed the preparer and her business to prepare returns subject to certain restrictions. In April 2017, the United States filed a complaint against Lena D. Cotton and Professional Accounting LDC, LLC, that alleged the defendants prepared returns with improper education credits, manipulated filing statuses, and improper vehicle deductions, among other issues. In November 2017, the court permanently enjoined both defendants from this and other specific conduct and required defendants to engage a “neutral monitor” to “determin[e] and/or secur[e] compliance” with injunction.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

The Justice Department today announced its participation in a multinational operation involving actions in the United States, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom to disrupt and take down the infrastructure of the malware and botnet known as Emotet. Additionally, officials in Lithuania, Sweden, and Ukraine assisted in this major cyber investigative action.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

The United States has filed a complaint seeking to bar a Chicago-area tax return preparer from preparing federal income tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. The civil complaint against Lavon Boyd was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and alleges that Boyd prepared federal income tax returns for Chicago-area taxpayers that significantly understated his customers’ tax liabilities by fabricating business losses. The suit alleges that Boyd fabricated or exaggerated his customers’ business expenses. The suit also charges that Boyd allegedly fabricated childcare expenses on at least one of his customers’ tax returns.