Silver Spring, Maryland, Return Preparer Found Guilty of Preparing False Tax Returns...

Silver Spring, Maryland, Return Preparer Found Guilty of Preparing False Tax
Returns for Clients

Defendant Purchased Social Security Numbers to Include on His Clients' Returns

WASHINGTON, June 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following a four-day trial and
less than an hour of deliberations, a federal jury today convicted tax return
preparer, Marcel J. Toto-Ngosso, of Silver Spring, Md., of 17 counts of
preparing false tax returns in connection with a scheme to generate fraudulent
tax refunds for client-taxpayers, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue
Service (IRS) announced.

According to the indictment and evidence introduced during trial, Toto-Ngosso
ran a tax preparation business out of his home, located on East Shaw Avenue in
Silver Spring. Toto-Ngosso prepared false tax returns for clients for tax
years 2001 through 2006 which claimed numerous fraudulent deductions including
false dependents, inflated charitable contributions, fraudulent un-reimbursed
employee expenses and other false and fraudulent deductions to which
Toto-Ngosso knew his clients were not entitled.

Evidence was also introduced that Toto-Ngosso purchased the names and Social
Security numbers of individuals, which he later sold to his clients for $500
to $800 per dependent. Toto-Ngosso used these names and Social Security
numbers on the false tax returns in order to secure larger refunds for his
clients.

At trial, the government introduced evidence that after Toto-Ngosso learned he
was under investigation by the IRS, he instructed his clients to lie about the
information that he reported on their tax returns.

U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus scheduled sentencing for Sept. 21, 2009.
Toto-Ngosso was detained pending sentencing. He faces a maximum of three
years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of conviction.

Acting Assistant Attorney General John A. DiCicco of the Justice Department's
Tax Division commended the IRS Criminal Investigation special agents who
investigated the case as well as Tax Division trial attorneys Jorge Almonte
and Tino Lisella who prosecuted the case. Acting Assistant Attorney General
DiCicco also thanked the U.S. Attorney's Office in Greenbelt, Maryland for
their assistance.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Justice, +1-202-514-2007, TDD: +1-202-514-1888