FRESNO, Calif. — After a three–day trial, a federal jury found Deena Vang Lee, 41, of Fresno, guilty yesterday of three counts of wire fraud, two counts of aggravated identity theft, five counts of preparing and presenting false and fraudulent returns, and three counts of making and subscribing a false and fraudulent tax return, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to evidence presented at trial, from 2012 through 2016, Lee willfully prepared and filed tax returns for other individuals that contained materially false and fraudulent statements and underreported her taxable income on her personal tax returns. In her role as a tax preparer, Lee would put false information on the customer’s tax return without their knowledge or consent and submit the returns to the IRS. As part of this scheme, Lee obtained the identification of multiple individuals and falsely listed these individuals as child care providers on multiple customer’s tax returns without their knowledge or consent.

Lee also underreported her own income related to the payments she received for tax preparation services on her personal tax returns for tax years 2013, 2014, and 2015.

“The jury found that this defendant who operated a tax preparation business willfully prepared and filed tax returns for her clients that were false and underreported her own taxable income,” said U.S. Attorney Talbert. “Her scheme to use the tax system to generate larger refunds than deserved came to an end. The U.S....

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMid2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lmp1c3RpY2UuZ...