Disbarred lawyer; frozen bank accounts; bridal shop scam; and other highlights of recent tax cases.
Baltimore: A Baltimore man was sentenced to jail and ordered to pay more than $68,000 to the state for his role in a cigarette smuggling tax fraud scheme.
Saad Al Qutaibi, 40, pleaded guilty to conspiring to illegally import untaxed cigarettes into Maryland and to evade the state's cigarette tax.
Al Qutaibi will serve 30 days in jail on charges of conspiracy to transport unstamped cigarettes, conspiracy to possess a counterfeit tax stamp and possession of more than 30 cartons of unstamped cigarettes.
From Sept. 4, 2024, to Oct. 16, 2024, Al Qutaibi imported untaxed cigarettes from North Carolina into Maryland, stamped them with counterfeit Maryland cigarette tax stamps, and then resold them to customers without paying the state's $5 per pack tax on cigarettes.
Investigators executed a search warrant at the headquarters of the conspiracy in Baltimore and seized more than 8,000 packs of untaxed cigarettes and hundreds of counterfeit Maryland tax stamps.
Cleveland: An Ohio pharmacist who was indicted more than a decade ago and was a fugitive on the run, has pleaded guilty to his role in defrauding the IRS.
Sbeih Sbeih, 57, previously of North Olmstead, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the IRS. In February, he was arrested in the country of Georgia after being a fugitive for 11 years.
Sbeih was a registered pharmacist licensed by the Ohio Pharmacy Board. Together with codefendant Osama Salouha, 54, previously of Strongsville, the men conspired to divert proceeds from Salouha's businesses, Southside Pharmacy in Lorain and Medicine Center Pharmacy in Elyria, into personal, non-business bank accounts to otherwise conceal income from their accountant and the IRS.
Milwaukee: Jasmeika Simon was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison for aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns. Simon operated a tax preparation business that filed hundreds of false and fraudulent returns on behalf of clients in exchange for fees.
Simon worked as an independent contractor and tax preparer for Unlimited Taxes and More, a Georgia‑based tax preparation company with affiliates nationwide. From 2022 through 2024, she submitted more than 300 individual income tax returns to the IRS containing false information designed to inflate clients' tax refunds. Simon repeatedly used fabricated items to artificially increase refund amounts. She recruited clients through word of mouth and Facebook advertising, often preparing returns with minimal input from the taxpayers.
Simon was ordered to pay more than $250,000 in restitution and to serve one year of supervised release following her prison term.
Lansing, Michigan: Mark Fischer, 61, of Wellston, pleaded guilty to failing to report or pay sales tax collected through his propane company, Fischer LPG Inc., from 2019 to 2023. Fischer pleaded guilty to five felony counts of failure to file a tax return. Fischer LPG also pleaded guilty to five felony counts of failure to file a return.
Fischer has already paid nearly $3 million to the Michigan Department of Treasury towards tax, penalties and interest. Fischer and his company will pay an additional $1.1 million in restitution to the Department of Treasury. Fischer will be placed on a delayed sentence, and if he pays full restitution, his charges will be reduced to five misdemeanor counts of general tax violations.
Milwaukee: Cameron Summers was sentenced to one year and one day in prison for two counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns. Summers claimed on his clients' tax returns false expenses, credits and refunds to which they were not entitled.
Summers worked at a tax preparation business in Milwaukee beginning in 2018. From 2020 through 2022, he filed with the IRS over 400 individual income tax returns for clients, using his name, preparer tax identification number and business name. Summers repeatedly used false items on clients' tax returns to inflate refund amounts, including false business expenses, sick and family leave credits, fuel credits and educational credits. Summers made notations stating that he had "boosted" the refund amount on some returns, and told the IRS Criminal Investigation Division in an interview that he did everything he could to get a big refund.
Summers was ordered to pay more than $1.1 million in restitution, and to serve one year of supervised release.
Baltimore: Maryland twin brothers pleaded guilty to tax-evasion charges for their roles in a tax-fraud scheme.
Dennis March, 55, and Greg March, 55, both of Berlin, each pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion for concealing income and failing to pay business and individual taxes.
According to their guilty pleas, from 2017 until April 2023, Dennis and Greg March both willfully evaded paying the taxes they owed on their business and personal income-tax returns for 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. In total, the brothers each unlawfully concealed more than $4.5 million in income from 2017 to 2023, and each failed to pay nearly $1.8 million in taxes on that income.
Beginning in 2017, and continuing into 2023, the brothers, along with a third business partner, jointly owned and controlled various business entities and ventures, including Elite Marketing Group LLC, Elite MG LLC and Principal Law Group.
Instead of paying the taxes they owed, the March brothers worked to hide their incomes by arranging payments to a shell entity that they controlled. The brothers also failed to file numerous IRS forms, including required business and personal tax returns.
The brothers are each facing five years in federal prison for tax evasion. Sentencing is set for November 6.
Boston: A Brockton woman pleaded guilty to stealing a nearly $1 million Treasury tax refund check.
Lana Ruel, 70, pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government funds. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 1.
Ruel attempted to deposit a U.S. Treasury tax refund check issued to a health care company in Brooklyn, New York. Prior to the attempted deposit, Ruel incorporated a company in Massachusetts and opened a bank account in the same name of the health care company that was the payee on the tax refund check. After the attempted deposit, the bank froze Ruel's account.
Over a period of two years, Ruel created four additional companies in Massachusetts that did not have a legitimate business purpose. For one of those companies, Ruel opened an account at approximately 10 different banks. The banks have closed all these accounts.
The charge of theft of government funds provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.
Atlanta: Amjad Ibrahim, 60, of Johns Creek, Georgia, will serve more than a year in federal prison following his conviction for evading nearly $1.5 million in federal income taxes over a four-year span.
Ibrahim, an attorney since 1994, willfully evaded paying federal income taxes for tax years 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, resulting in nearly $1.5 million in unpaid personal taxes. During those years, Ibrahim managed and earned substantial income from at least seven businesses. He sought to hide his earnings from these companies by issuing at least 70 checks to himself, totaling approximately $700,000.
Ibrahim was sentenced to one year and three months in prison to be followed by two years of supervised release. Additionally, the court ordered Ibrahim to pay $1,934,115 in restitution to the IRS and a fine of $35,000.
Providence, Rhode Island: Joseph Molina Flynn, a former Rhode Island judge and disbarred immigration lawyer who has been at the center of several investigations for more than a year, formally agreed to plead guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion charges.
In exchange for a lower sentencing recommendation, Molina Flynn agreed to pay at least $83,265 in restitution to victims and at least $550,000 to the federal government. Some of those funds will derive from the sale of his home.
Before sentencing, Molina Flynn will also file accurate tax returns for 2019 through 2023 and cooperate with the IRS regarding unpaid personal income taxes, interest and penalties.
Molina Flynn abruptly resigned from his position as Central Falls municipal court judge after FBI agents raided his downtown Providence law office in January 2025.
Molina Flynn charged immigration clients an hourly rate of $350, though he often represented them under flat-fee agreements ranging from $3,000 to $8,000. But since starting his practice in 2015, he allegedly failed to file tax returns and pay federal income and payroll taxes.
Prosecutors allege Molina Flynn misappropriated at least $98,000 from clients for immigration services he never provided and collected fees for documents he never filed. They claim he used the money to operate his practice and pay personal expenses.
He used his law firm's operating accounts to pay personal expenses, including more than $190,000 in American Express bills and more than $8,000 in luxury vehicle payments.
Molina Flynn failed to provide his employees with W-2 forms and did not file payroll tax returns, despite complaints from employees.
His law license was suspended in October 2025, and the Rhode Island Supreme Court announced his disbarment in March.
Denver: A Parker woman was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison for willfully failing to pay over employment taxes on behalf of the bridal shop company she owned and operated for more than a decade.
Donna M. Savoy owned and operated Donna Beth Creations, a bridal studio in Denver. As the owner of the company, Savoy was responsible for withholding Social Security, Medicare and income taxes from her employees' wages, paying those funds over to the IRS and filing quarterly employment tax returns with the IRS.
From the first quarter of 2014 through the fourth quarter of 2024 Savoy admitted that she withheld taxes from her employees' wages but willfully failed to pay them over to the IRS. Savoy also willfully failed to file employment tax returns for that entire period. Savoy spent the tax money she withheld from her employees on personal and business expenses. In total, Savoy caused a tax loss to the U.S. exceeding $1.3 million.
Savoy pleaded guilty to one count of willful failure to account for and pay over trust fund taxes.
Baltimore: A Maryland man received a federal prison term in connection with his leadership role in a multimillion-dollar money laundering scheme.
Yahya Sowe, 42, of College Park, was sentenced to 114 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiring to engage in a large, multimember, money-laundering conspiracy. Additionally, Sowe was ordered to pay $13,050,827.03 in restitution, and to forfeit $1 million. Sowe, who pleaded guilty to participating in the money-laundering conspiracy on Dec. 15, 2025, admitted that more than $11 million in money laundering occurred pursuant to his management or supervisory role in the conspiracy.
Sowe and his co-conspirators used and controlled several different encrypted electronic communication accounts, which they used in the money laundering, and to supervise and manage the members of the conspiracy. The co-conspirators worked with each other to create limited liability companies to serve as shell entities; open bank accounts in the name of shell entities; and launder fraud proceeds.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland previously charged 14 defendants in connection with the money laundering conspiracy — 13 have already pleaded guilty.
