On September 22, 2021, in the District of Maryland, former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) contractor Lenore Gail Worthy was sentenced after she pled guilty to Conspiracy to Defraud the United States, and Aiding and Assisting in the Preparation of False Tax Returns, and Other Documents.

According to the court documents, for tax year 2011 and continuing through tax year 2018, Worthy and two coconspirators prepared false and fraudulent Forms 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return and related IRS Schedules and Forms for client-taxpayers. Worthy and her coconspirators caused their clients to file false tax returns that reported reduced tax liabilities and fraudulently claimed increased tax refunds by attaching Schedules C, Profit or Loss from Business to report businesses that her clients did not own, operate, or materially participate in and business losses that their clients did not incur. Additionally, Worthy attached Schedules A, Itemized Deductions to report inflated or fictitious deductions, for among other things, medical expenses, gifts to charity, and unreimbursed employee expenses. Further, Worthy and her coconspirators exchanged Electronic Filing Identification Numbers and other identifying information after the IRS expelled the conspirators and their tax return preparation businesses from the IRS e-file program. She used varying business names in order to conceal her operation of a single, continuous enterprise.

Worthy was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, 12 months’ home incarceration, three years’ of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $189,748 in restitution, a $20,000 fine, and a $200 assessment fee.

Source:  The facts in this case narrative come from the following publicly available documents: D. Md., Information, March 12, 2021; D. Md., Judgment, September 22, 2021.