Maryland Accountant Convicted of Preparing False Tax Returns for D.C. Residents | OPA

A federal jury in the District of Columbia convicted a Maryland woman today for preparing three false tax returns for District of Columbia residents that claimed more than $1.1 million in fraudulent refunds.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Charese Johnson, of Aberdeen, Maryland, operated Prodigy Accounting Services and prepared false amended income tax returns in 2014 for three District of Columbia taxpayers. Those returns fraudulently claimed large refunds based upon fictious refundable credits and phony withholdings that had never been paid to the IRS. 

Johnson is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 17 and faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison on each count. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.

Special Agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Abigail Burger Chingos and Jeffrey McLellan of the Justice Department’s Tax Division are prosecuting the case.