A Lynn tax preparer pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on March 24 in Boston in connection with a scheme to file fraudulent tax returns without her clients’ knowledge and pocket the excess refunds.
Claudia Carredano, 46, pleaded guilty to a criminal Information charging her with one count of wire fraud and one count of identity theft. U.S. District Court Judge George A. O’Toole, Jr. scheduled sentencing for June 23, 2016.
Carredano co-owned Maya Multi Services, a tax return preparation business operating on the North Shore. From 2008 to 2011, Carredano devised and executed a scheme to defraud the Internal Revenue Service by filing false tax returns on behalf of her clients. To do this, Carredano filed dozens of false tax returns for her clients, and, without their knowledge, included fraudulent dependents in order to increase the refund amount. She then directed the inflated portion of the refunds to be deposited into her bank account. In order to conceal the scheme, Carredano gave her clients versions of their tax returns which did not reflect the fraudulent dependents and sought smaller refunds than the returns she actually filed with the IRS.
The charge of wire fraud provides for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain to the defendant or loss to the victims, whichever is greater. The charge of identity theft provides for a sentence of no greater than 15 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain to the defendant or loss to the victims, whichever is greater.
Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than maximum penalties. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
If you were one of Carredano’s clients between 2008 and 2011 and believe you may have been affected by the fraud described above, please send an email to: HYPERLINK “mailto:[email protected]” [email protected].
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