A Mississippi tax preparer has been sentenced to almost six years in prison for return fraud that cost the United States more than $3.5 million in unwarranted refunds.
Christopher Randell drew the term and will also have to pay restitution that is to be calculated later. Randell, who worked at Sunbelt Tax Services in Jackson, Miss., was convicted by a jury in November of conspiracy to defraud the United States and individual counts of preparing false tax returns.
Also convicted by the same jury were Adam Earnest, and James Klish, both convicted of conspiracy with Earnest also convicted for preparing false tax returns. The co-conspirators were accused of using a variety of techniques to inflate client tax refunds and preparing thousands of fraudulent returns.
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards. Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind