Four Minneapolis, Minn.-area tax preparers have been indicted on 63 counts that claim they stole identities, filed bogus returns and looted clients' debit cards. Chatonda Khofi, Ishmael Kosh, Amadou Sangaray and Francis Saygbay are accused of conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. Each defendant faces multiple counts of aggravated identity theft and multiple counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false individual income tax returns.The charges grow out of their alleged actions at three tax store fronts in the Minneapolis area operating under the name Primetime Tax Services. Court documents allege that Khofi, Kosh, Sangaray and Saygbay conspired among themselves and others to prepare and file false individual income tax. A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment on November 19.
The accusations include charges that Primetime also filed phony claims on income tax returns with the state of Minnesota. Primetime prepared more than 2,000 federal returns from 2007 through 2009.
The quartet allegedly used names and Social Security numbers of real persons to falsely claim refunds on customers individual income tax returns. The indictment says the defendants also accompanied some customers to check-cashing business to cash refund check and then demanded a share of that on top of the preparation fees they had already collected. They are also accused of withdrawing cash without permission from the debit cards containing customer refunds.
According to the indictment, the defendants also accompanied some customers to check-cashing businesses to cash their falsely inflated tax refund checks, then demanded a portion of the cashed refund check in addition to tax preparation fees already collected. The indictment alleges that, in some instances, the defendants withdrew cash from debits cards containing their customers’ refunds without permission, again in addition to the tax preparation fees they had already collected.
