CHARLOTTE, N.C. — U.S. Attorney’s Office Officials charged seven Charlotte tax return preparers for conspiracy to defraud the IRS by preparing false tax returns for their clients and themselves on Wednesday.
A federal grand jury charged Joseph Octave, 47, Vonyeda Carson, 36, and Wendia Courtois, 44, with conspiring to defraud.
In addition, U.S. Attorney’s Office representatives say four other tax preparers, identified as Melissa Greene, 39, Natisha Holloman, 41, Kimberly Joline, 30, and Whitney Vargas-Medrano, 31, received the same charge of conspiracy to defraud earlier this week.
Octave, Owner of Kapital Financial Services, along with employees Carson, Courtois, Vargas-Medrano, Greene, Holloman and Joline, were found to have been fabricating deductions, income, losses, American Opportunity credits, education credits and earned income taxes since 2014, according to the press release.
Officials say employees were trained to fake federal income tax returns by the use of scripts and cheat sheets.
Carson and Courtois are also being charged for filing false personal tax returns, according to the news release. Carson and Courtois face three years on each of the counts where they falsified their own tax returns, according to the news release.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office say if the suspects are convicted they could each face a five year sentence in prison, with Octave, Carson, and Courtois facing three years for each additional count of alleged assistance in preparing false income tax returns.
Investigators with the U.S. Attorney’s Office say the case is active and ongoing.
