The owner of a Long Island tax preparation service was sentenced to serve one year and one day of imprisonment for preparing false federal tax returns for her clients.
Nellie Intriago operated Latin Insurance Brokerage, located Hempstead, N.Y. According to court documents and statements made in court, she aided and assisted in the preparation of false individual tax returns, typically claiming fictitious and inflated job expenses, charitable contributions and other expenses. These overstated “itemized” deductions and expenses resulted in falsely understated tax liabilities and inflated tax refund claims.
Intriago had earlier pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one count of a 10-count indictment, in which she acknowledged preparing a 2004 U.S. Federal Income Tax Return which falsely claimed a $6,182 refund that resulted from fraudulent Schedule A deductions.
Intriago was also ordered to make restitution of $100,139 and to serve one year of supervised release upon completing her prison sentence. She was prohibited from engaging in any employment which involves the preparation of income tax returns. She was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Bianco.
In an unrelated case, Caroline Frank, 69, the owner of K.C. Frank & Associates, a tax preparation business located in Huntington, N.Y., was sentenced to three years of probation for preparing a false federal corporate tax return for her client, Durao Concrete Corporation. She was also required to pay restitution of $27,186.33 to the Internal Revenue Service.
According to court documents, Frank pleaded guilty to one count of a three-count information, in which she acknowledged fraudulently inflating the amounts of construction supplies on Durao Concrete Corporation’s 2006 corporate tax return by $264,664. This reduced the corporation’s tax liability.
In December 2011, Celia Durao, the owner of Durao Concrete Corporation was sentenced to three years of probation. According to court documents, Durao pleaded guilty to subscribing to Durao Concrete Corporation’s 2004 tax return, under penalty of perjury, knowing that it falsely and fraudulently reported the corporation’s production costs for building materials. She was also required to pay restitution of $29,188.62 to the IRS.
Frank and Durao were both sentenced by U.S. District Judge Leonard D. Wexler.
The cases were investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
