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May 21, 2019

Las Vegas Tax Business Owner Indicted in Scheme to Defraud Using Stolen Client Information and Fraudulent Financial Information

On March 20, 2019, in the District of Nevada, North Las Vegas resident King Umoren was indicted for wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering, in connection with a scheme to defraud the buyer of his tax preparation businesses.

According to the indictment, Umoren operated tax preparation businesses known as Universal Tax Services and Prudential Tax Solutions, collectively referred to as UTS. Around May 2016, Umoren began attempting to sell UTS. In about August 2017, a buyer and Umoren entered into negotiations for the sale of UTS. The buyer agreed to purchase UTS for a total price of $6.7 million, with a guaranteed $4.05 million to be paid to Umoren upon the closing of escrow, which occurred in November 2017.

From about May 2016 through about May 2018, Umoren allegedly devised and participated in a scheme to defraud and to obtain money through false representations by misrepresenting that UTS had a vastly greater client base and annual revenue than it actually did.

As part of his scheme, Umoren allegedly provided client lists and a client database containing approximately 12,700 clients to the buyer purporting to show that the clients were UTS clients, when, in fact, only about 700-800 of the individuals were actually UTS clients. Umoren stole most of the client information from unrelated companies, including the client names, Social Security Numbers, and confidential taxpayer information of those companies. Additionally, Umoren provided the buyer with fraudulent bank statements, deposit reports, personal income tax returns, Forms 1099-MISC purporting to reflect millions of dollars paid to contractors for preparing tax returns for UTS clients, and other false financial reports.

If convicted, Umoren could face a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment for wire fraud, plus a mandatory two-year sentence for aggravated identity theft. Additionally, upon conviction of any of the felony offenses charged in the indictment, Umoren may be ordered to forfeit at least $4.05 million and real property. A jury trial is scheduled to begin on May 20, 2019.

Source:  The facts in this case narrative come from the following publicly available documents: D. Nev. Indict. filed Mar. 20, 2019; D. Nev. Crim. Docket as of Mar. 27, 2019.