It's not the only Mo Money office with problems. Earlier this year, Jimi Clark of Memphis, who owned the St. Louis franchise, and four of his preparers were charged with falsely claiming educational credits on 47 tax returns filed in 2009. There are news reports of customers in Memphis who say the refund checks they got from the operation bounced. Similar complaints about offices in Richmond and Hanover, Va., were published during tax season. During the summer, a Congressional committee investigating filing fraud heard testimony from some who said they had been victimized by the chain. The company was invited to testify, but was not summoned, and no one from Mo Money appeared. Allegations of problems have also been made against the chain in Mississippi.
Chain co-owners Markey Granberry and Derrick Robinson reportedly were selling the business, which has been noted for its high energy commercials, to investors that were formerly operators of Mo Money stores, including about six locations that closed in Norfolk, Va., in February. Meanwhile, the founders said they would open a tax preparation firm called Marquis Taxes.