A crooked tax preparer spent more than $5.5 million of his businesses proceeds on properties in the United States and elsewhere, along with Jewelry, cars and gambling. Ariel Jimenez, who was convicted on a variety of charges, also filed thousands of tax returns claiming nearly $38 million in Earned Income Tax Credit.
Jimenez. known as Melo, operated a tax preparation business in the Bronx, N.Y., From 2009 through 2015, he was found to have sold stolen identifies of minors to his customers so they could claim larger returns. He sold more than a thousand identities in some years and made more than $1 million in personal profits.
A jury convicted Jimenez on the following counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering. Eight co-conspirator had already pleaded guilty to a variety of charges.
About March 2016 he transferred to his parents several properties purchased with fraud proceeds to his parents for little or no value in an effort to hide his activities. Jimenez and co-conspirators sold ID to be used as phony dependents to customers for between $1,000 and $1,500 each in cash, personally receiving $1,000 in cash for each one sold. In some cases, individuals with children who stolen IDs had tax refunds delayed and were required to prove their right to claim the dependents.
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
