Back-to-school haircuts; two revenue books; voluntary surrender; and other highlights of recent tax cases.
Concord, New Hampshire: Anthony Sanborn, a.k.a. Andy Sanborn, 64, pleaded guilty to theft of government funds. Sanborn is scheduled for sentencing on October 15.
Sanborn owned and operated Win Win Win, a company that did business as Concord Casino. Sanborn applied for and obtained $844,000 in Economic Injury Disaster Loan funding from the Small Business Administration. In applying for the loans, Sanborn certified that he would use the loan proceeds solely as working capital for Win Win Win. However, he misused $255,232.72 of the funds on personal expenditures. For example, on Jan. 18, 2022, Sanborn used $48,750 of EIDL funds to purchase a 2006 Porsche Cayman.
The charge of theft of government funds carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater.
Las Vegas: A Nevada woman was sentenced to 18 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States by filing false COVID-19 employment tax credits. The government recommended a sentence of 40 months in prison.
Adonia Stiles, of Las Vegas, was a real estate agent, tax preparer and clothing store owner. Stiles conspired with others to file false tax returns fraudulently seeking refunds based on the Employee Retention Credit and sick and family leave credit.
Stiles caused one of her co-conspirators, Candies Goode-McCoy, to file 11 false employment tax returns for Stiles's clothing store seeking a total of more than $800,000 in refundable tax credits. Stiles also referred 18 other people to Goode-McCoy, for whom Goode-McCoy filed over 150 false employment tax returns. Goode-McCoy claimed $15 million in fraudulent tax credits on behalf of these taxpayers, which resulted in the United States paying out more than $7 million in refunds. In exchange for making these referrals to Goode-McCoy, Stiles received at least $135,000. She did not report this income on her individual income tax returns. In April 2026, Goode-McCoy was sentenced to 54 months in prison for her role in the scheme.
Stiles was also ordered to serve two years of supervised release and to pay $7,079,121.48 in restitution.
Miami: A Florida man has pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return as part of a scheme that sought more than $4.2 million in fraudulent tax refunds.
McDonald Preval of Miami admitted to filing a false tax return on behalf of a trust he controlled.
Prosecutors said Preval filed multiple false tax returns for himself and purported trusts he controlled. The returns claimed that the trusts had earned substantial income and made tax withholding payments to the IRS, which allegedly entitled them to large refunds.
However, investigators found that the trusts did not earn the reported income or make the claimed payments, meaning they were not eligible for the refunds sought.
Preval also filed 2023 tax returns that failed to report income from his employment, authorities said.
The fraudulent returns filed by Preval, either on his own behalf or for the purported trusts, collectively sought tax refunds totaling more than $4.2 million.
Preval pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false tax return. He is scheduled to be sentenced on October 6 and faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison.
He could also face supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.
Naples, Florida: A former Naples tax preparer caught in a nearly $600,000 audit has been sentenced for filing false tax returns.
Wilner Cenecharles, 61, was sentenced to one year in federal prison on two counts of filing false tax returns and a concurrent one-year sentence on six counts of assisting in the preparation of false tax documents in 2019 and 2020. Cenecharles was also ordered to serve one year of supervised release, pay an $800 special assessment and reimburse the IRS $65,707, plus interest.
Federal sentencing guidelines, which weighed the offense, Cenecharles' age and lack of criminal history, recommended 24 to 30 months in prison, a fine of $10,000 to $95,000 and an $800 special assessment. The statutory maximum for each count is three years in prison, a $250,000 fine, up to one year of supervised release and a $100 special assessment.
The judge waived the fines because of Cenecharles' financial situation.
Cenecharles operated Motivation Tax Financial Services, the same location as Excelsior Barber Shop, a gathering place for many members of Naples' Haitian community in River Park. The longtime small-business owner is known for providing free back-to-school haircuts and backpacks filled with school supplies.
He pleaded guilty in April, admitting he filed false tax returns for clients and pocketed part of their refunds. Cenecharles met clients in an office at the barbershop and prepared returns using his PTIN. He attached false Schedules C and, in some cases, false education credits to generate fraudulent refunds.
He charged $200 to $600 to prepare returns and used a third-party refund transfer bank to direct part of clients' refunds to himself. The fraudulent amounts totaled $39,853 in 2019 and $25,854 in 2020.
Cenecharles also received "thousands of dollars" in tax preparation fees that he failed to report, and did not accurately report his gross receipts on his 2019 and 2020 personal income tax returns.
During an emotional sentencing hearing in Fort Myers, Cenecharles' sister, attorney Hilda Cenecharles of Ave Maria, who owns the barbershop condominium, argued clients knew about and participated in the fraud by discussing and agreeing to it.
She said her brother immediately stopped preparing tax returns after the investigation and has not prepared any since, including his own.
She denied he prepared his own taxes in 2021, when the government identified a tax deficiency of more than $14,000. She also argued the nearly $600,000 in audited tax returns should not be considered because they fell outside the statute of limitations. She noted the government had been reimbursed, said only 17 of the approximately 500 returns he prepared involved fraud, and disputed describing the clients as victims.
Cenecharles apologized to the court, saying there was no excuse for his actions.
Friends and relatives tearfully urged the judge to show leniency, citing his community service. Hilda Cenecharles also said she is working with the IRS to establish a payment plan.
Peoria, Illinois: A Lindenhurst man who used to run a Peoria liquor store was sentenced to five years in federal prison for tax evasion and trying to defraud the federal government by withholding millions in sales tax revenue.
Jalal Nimar Asad, 61, was found guilty in September on nearly two dozen counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and to violate the tax law, conspiracy to structure financial transactions to avoid reporting requirements and tax evasion.
Concurrent 60-month sentences on each of the 20 counts were imposed on Asad, who was also ordered to pay $1.08 million in restitution to the IRS and entered a forfeiture order for $4.3 million, which is roughly the total amount of money linked to him.
The trial last fall centered around events that occurred two decades ago, from early 2001 through 2008. But just before the charges were announced in 2009, Asad left the country and headed to territory governed by the Palestinian National Authority.
He returned to the United States in October 2023 and was arrested. That's when the case began again.
While he was gone, Asad's brother and four others were convicted and sentenced to prison. All have since been released.
Asad and the others schemed to hide sales tax revenue from sales at stores in Decatur and at the Super Saver in Peoria. The Peoria case focused on how Asad and his brother schemed to move about $4.3 million out of banks here in Peoria over a four-year period.
Two separate books of revenue were kept — one that truly accounted for the sales and one that didn't. The fake book allowed them to underreport their sales and avoid paying more taxes.
Asad, who has been on bond, will voluntarily surrender himself to federal prison officials in September.
