{"id":22572,"date":"2016-04-18T11:10:16","date_gmt":"2016-04-18T18:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=22572"},"modified":"2016-04-18T11:14:10","modified_gmt":"2016-04-18T18:14:10","slug":"owners-tax-preparation-business-sent-prison-filing-bogus-tax-returns-prison-inmates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=22572","title":{"rendered":"Owners of Tax Preparation Business Sent to Prison for Filing Bogus Tax Returns for Prison Inmates"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW JERSEY<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The owners of a tax preparation business that filed fraudulent tax returns on behalf of inmates at various New Jersey prisons were each sentenced to multi-year prison sentences, according to officials.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kamal J. James aka Bro Messiah Aziz El<\/strong>, 34, of Seaford, Delaware, and Crystal G. Hawkins, aka Sis<\/strong>. Crystal Gabri<\/strong> El,<\/strong> 39, of Laurel, Delaware, were sentenced Friday to eight years and four years in prison, respectively.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\"TaxThey were convicted of one count of conspiracy, 16 counts of making false claims and three counts of mail fraud. \u00a0They were convicted on all counts following a one-week trial before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan of New Jersey.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to the prison terms, Judge Sheridan sentenced both James and Hawkins to three years of supervised release and ordered them to pay restitution in the amount of $570,897.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the superseding indictment and the evidence presented at trial:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Between October 2011 and October 2013, James and Hawkins operated Release Refunds, a purported tax preparation business \u2013 previously based in Brick, New Jersey, and in Seaford \u2013 through which they solicited current and former New Jersey prison inmates as clients and then filed fraudulent tax returns on their behalf.<\/span><\/p>\n

The company is no longer in business.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

James and Hawkins sent Release Refunds \u201cpromotional\u201d flyers to inmates at various New Jersey prisons and halfway houses offering tax return preparation services. <\/span><\/p>\n

The pair asked inmates interested in Release Refunds\u2019 services to provide basic identification information and to sign income tax returns and other IRS documents, but not to include any information about their income or withholdings. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

James and Hawkins then filled in the missing income information on the return forms, fabricating the inmates\u2019 earnings to trigger fraudulent and inflated refunds.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the course of the investigation, an undercover IRS-Criminal Investigation agent posing as an inmate in a New Jersey prison submitted a completed Release Refunds form and sent it to James and Hawkins. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They then sent the \u201cinmate\u201d blank income tax forms and other IRS documents and instructions to sign the documents. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

James and Hawkins did not request any financial information from the undercover agent before preparing three fraudulent tax returns \u2013 including false income information that James and Hawkins provided \u2013 to be filed on behalf of the agent for tax years 2010 through 2012. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The fraudulent returns resulted in several thousand dollars in refunds and a $1,485 fee for the defendants.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The owners of a tax preparation business that filed fraudulent tax returns on behalf of inmates at various New Jersey prisons were each sentenced to multi-year prison sentences, according to officials.
\nKamal J. James aka Bro Messiah Aziz El, 34, of Seaford, Delaware, and Crystal G. Hawkins, aka Sis. Crystal Gabri El, 39, of Laurel, Delaware, were sentenced Friday to eight years and four years in prison, respectively. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,48,3],"tags":[1725,2520,99],"class_list":["post-22572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-irs","category-u-s-department-of-justice","tag-irs","tag-prison-inmates","tag-tax-refunds"],"yoast_head":"\nOwners of Tax Preparation Business Sent to Prison for Filing Bogus Tax Returns for Prison Inmates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The owners of a tax preparation business that filed fraudulent tax returns on behalf of inmates at various New Jersey prisons were each sentenced to multi-year prison sentences, according to officials. Kamal J. James aka Bro Messiah Aziz El, 34, of Seaford, Delaware, and Crystal G. Hawkins, aka Sis. Crystal Gabri El, 39, of Laurel, Delaware, were sentenced Friday to eight years and four years in prison, respectively.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=22572\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Owners of Tax Preparation Business Sent to Prison for Filing Bogus Tax Returns for Prison Inmates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The owners of a tax preparation business that filed fraudulent tax returns on behalf of inmates at various New Jersey prisons were each sentenced to multi-year prison sentences, according to officials. Kamal J. James aka Bro Messiah Aziz El, 34, of Seaford, Delaware, and Crystal G. Hawkins, aka Sis. 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