November 14, 2017

A former Whitman, Massachusetts, police sergeant was sentenced to 48 months in prison for preparing false income tax returns for clients of his tax preparation business, obstructing the internal revenue laws, and misappropriating funds from the accounts of disabled veterans while he was a fiduciary appointed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Beginning in 2012, Pearson operated FTS Tax Services, a tax preparation business through which he prepared false tax returns for clients for a fee. From 2012 through 2015, Pearson prepared numerous tax returns that included false credits and fictitious deductions in an effort to obtain bigger refunds for his clients than they were entitled to receive. When Pearson’s clients were audited by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Pearson took steps to obstruct the IRS—including making false statements to the IRS and preparing false documents for his clients to submit to the IRS during the audits. Pearson also falsely underreported his own income on his personal federal income tax returns. Pearson admitted to causing a total tax loss of more than $1.5 million. DOJ

Tagged in: Tax Fraud,