April 15, 2016

The Department of Justice filed a civil injunction suit seeking to bar Patrick Clarke of Hallandale Beach, Florida, and Ruby Rodriguez of Orlando, Florida, from owning, operating, or franchising a tax return preparation business and preparing tax returns for others. The complaint also requests that the court order Clarke and Rodriguez to disgorge the fees that they obtained through the alleged fraudulent tax return preparation. According to the complaint, Clarke owns and operates Tax MD, a tax return preparation business with stores in Florida and North Carolina. Rodriguez allegedly manages one of Clarke’s stores located in Orlando. Clarke’s preparers, including Rodriguez, allegedly target primarily low to moderate income customers with misleading advertisements, prepare and file fraudulent tax returns to improperly increase their customers’ refunds and profit through unconscionable, exorbitant and often undisclosed fees—all at the expense of their customers and the U.S. Treasury. DOJ

Tagged in: Tax Fraud,