Ishmael Kosh, 39, of Philadelphia, Pa., and Amadou Sangaray, 36, of New York, N.Y, were convicted following a two-week jury trial in September. Kosh was convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and eight counts of aiding and assisting in the filing of false tax returns. Sangaray was convicted of one count of conspiracy, four counts of aggravated identity theft and eight counts of aiding and assisting in the filing of false tax returns.
Francis Saygbay, 43, of Minneapolis, who failed to appear for trial, later pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, one count of aggravated identity theft, and two counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns.
Kosh was sentenced to 52 months in prison; Sangaray, 50 months; and Saygbay, 40 months. Kosh and Saygbay were ordered to serve three years of supervised release each and Sangaray, two years of supervised release, after they complete their terms.
Along with Chatonda Khofi, 50, of St. Paul, Minn., the three established a storefront for Primetime Tax Services in the Minneapolis area. A fifth individual, David Mwangi, 47, of Arlington, Texas, joined them in preparing more than 2,000 bogus individual tax returns for tax years 2006, 2007 and 2008. They also prepared 1,700 fraudulent Minnesota returns for the same years.
Mwangi pleaded guilty In November 2014 to one count of conspiracy to defraud and Khofi pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. They are awaiting sentencing. A sixth individual, Stephanie Robinson, 33, of Minneapolis, pleaded guilty in August 2013 to one count of filing a false tax return in her own name and one count of aiding and assisting in the filing of a false tax return for another individual.