LAWFUEL – US Legal News – MICHAEL J. GARCIA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that ROBERT M. QUINONES
pleaded guilty today to false-return charges stemming from the
operation of tax return preparation businesses known “Uncle Sam’s
Nephew” and “Exact Accounting Services,” both of which were
located in the Bronx, New York, as well as to false claim charges
in connection with his own personal tax returns. According to
the Indictment and statements made during QUINONES’ guilty plea
before United States District Judge DENISE L. COTE:
From 2001 through 2005, QUINONES, on multiple
occasions, knowingly included false items on tax returns he
prepared for the clients of his tax preparation businesses. The
false items he included in his clients’ returns included phony
medical expenses, unreimbursed business expenses, and bogus gifts
to charity, all of which led to increased refunds for his
clients. QUINONES’s inclusion of false deductions on twentyseven
income tax returns caused the IRS losses of approximately
$95,000.
QUINONES also admitted that he caused the filing of
false claims for refunds in connection with his personal tax
returns. According to the Indictment, for tax years 2002 and
2003, QUINONES filed personal income tax returns and W-2 forms
claiming that he was due refunds for each of those years, by
falsely asserting that the funds had been withheld from the
paychecks he had received while working at an area hospital. In
fact, as QUINONES admitted earlier today in his guilty plea, he
never worked at the hospital. Moreover, the W-2 forms submitted
to the IRS with QUINONES’s tax returns were forged.
After the
forged W-2 forms were submitted, QUINONES received refunds to
which he was not entitled, in the aggregate approximate amount of
$20,000.
QUINONES pleaded guilty to twenty-five counts of aiding
and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns and two
counts of filing false claims for refund. QUINONES faces up to
three years’ imprisonment on each of the false tax return
charges; and up to five years’ imprisonment on each of the false
claim for refund charges. Sentencing is scheduled for March 28,
2008.
Mr. GARCIA praised the investigative work of the
Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, and
thanked them for their assistance in this case.
This case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Major
Crimes Unit. Special Assistant United States Attorneys MICHAEL
BEN’ARY and ANDREW KAMEROS are in charge of the prosecution.
07-317 ###
