On April 1, 2024, in the Central District of California, Lidiya Gessese, owner of Tax R Us and Insurance Services, LLC, pleaded guilty to wire fraud for her role in preparation and presentation of false and fraudulent U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns, Forms 1040.

Beginning in January 2017, and continuing through April 2020, Gessese prepared and presented several of her clients’ Forms 1040 to the IRS for the tax years 2016 through 2018. Gessese knew the Forms 1040 were false and fraudulent to material matters. Specifically, Gessese fraudulently prepared her clients’ tax returns to falsely represent that the taxpayers were entitled to claim deductions and credits for certain items and in certain amounts, when as the defendant then knew, the taxpayers for whom the returns were prepared were not entitled to claim such deductions and credits. Gessese knowingly and intentionally inflated the claimed deductions and credits on these returns in different ways, including falsely claiming dependents, earned income credits, American Opportunity Credit, child tax credits, business deductions, education expenses, and/or unreimbursed employee business expenses.  

As a foreseeable result of the defendant’s scheme, the defendant caused the IRS to issue inflated refunds on her clients’ tax returns that were in amounts larger than what the clients were entitled to.

Source: The facts in this case narrative come from the following publicly available documents, C.D. Cal., Judgement filed August 12, 2024; and C.D. Cal., Plea Agr., filed March 29, 2024