Four Minneapolis-based Tax Return Preparers Indicted
Minneapolis tax preparers Chatonda Khofi, Ishmael Kosh, Amadou Sangaray and Francis Saygbay have been indicted on 63 counts regarding a conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. All four named defendants allegedly prepared false tax returns under the name of Primetime.
Primetime Tax Services Inc. was a tax return preparation business with three storefronts in the Minneapolis area. Khofi worked as the Chief Executive Officer of Primetime, and Kosh and Sangaray worked as managers of the Brooklyn Center location of Primetime.
According to court documents, Khofi, Kosh, Sangaray and Saygbay conspired amongst themselves and with others to prepare and file false individual income tax returns for the customers of Primetime. Some of these returns reported false dependents, false deductions, false Schedule C business losses and false wage income. These false entries resulted in fraudulently inflated refunds for their customers.
As part of the scheme, court documents allege that the defendants prepared and filed false Minnesota state income tax returns for their customers that contained the same or similar false information as reported on the federal income tax returns. From 2007 to 2009, Primetime filed over 2,000 customer federal income tax returns with the IRS.
The indictment further charges each defendant with multiple counts of aggravated identity theft and multiple counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false individual income tax returns. The aggravated identity theft charges stem from the defendants’ alleged use of the names and social security numbers of actual persons to falsely claim as dependents on their customers’ individual income tax returns.
According to the indictment, the defendants also accompanied some customers to check-cashing businesses to cash their falsely inflated tax refund checks, then demanded a portion of the cashed refund check in addition to tax preparation fees already collected.
If convicted, the defendants face a maximum potential sentence of five years in prison for the conspiracy count and three years in prison for each count of aiding in the preparation of a false tax return. The aggravated identity theft counts have a mandatory two year sentence.
In announcing the charges, the Justice Department noted that an indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.