On June 9, 2023, in the Northern District of Georgia, Joseph Kolawole pled guilty to mail fraud. According to the court documents, between December 2014 and May 2019, Kolawole prepared and filed fraudulent Federal corporate tax returns on Forms 1120, U.S. Corporation Income Tax Return, and demanded payment of refunds purportedly due to the corporations. However, these corporations were not real businesses. Kolawole and others obtained Employer Identification Numbers for the falsified corporations, using the names of real people who were purportedly the ‘organizers.’ These individuals did not know their names were being used to set up the bogus business entities. Many of the tax returns claimed refunds based on false statements indicating the corporations were entitled to refundable fuel tax credits.

If a tax return does not have a bank account listed, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sends a physical check to pay any refund amount. When the IRS paid refunds for the fraudulent returns in Kolawole’s scheme, U.S. Treasury checks were mailed to the sham corporations based on the addresses specified on the tax returns. Once the U.S. Treasury checks were received, Kolawole and others fraudulently altered the payees on the checks and deposited them into bank accounts owned and controlled by Kolawole. The scheme resulted in more than 100 fraudulent refund checks being issued, totaling over $4.5 million.

At sentencing, Kolawole faces a maximum prison term of 20 years, a maximum fine of $250,000, and a maximum of three years of supervised release.

Source:  The facts in this case narrative come from the following publicly available documents: N.D. Ga., Change of Plea Hearing, filed Jun. 9, 2023; and N.D. Ga., Indct., filed Oct. 18, 2022.