HOUSTON – A local woman has been ordered to federal prison following her convictions on seven counts of aiding and assisting in preparing false tax returns, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.
A federal jury sitting in Houston returned a guilty verdict April 3 against Cheryl Christin Kissentaner following a four-day trial.
Today, U.S. District Judge David Hittner ordered her to serve 144 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by one year of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay restitution of $71,180.
At the hearing, the court heard additional evidence describing her history of failing to pay her own personal taxes, civil fraud penalties associated with them and penalties for failing to use due diligence in preparing tax returns.
The total amount Kissentaner owes to the United States from her criminal and civil cases is in excess of $1.9 million. She used some of the monies accrued from the scheme to purchase a Bentley and Maserati as well as for cosmetic surgery. In addition, the court also heard about Kissentaner’s violation of her conditions of release and her failure to cooperate with pre-trial services.
“Kissentaner was convicted by a jury for preparing fraudulent tax returns on behalf of her clients and will now spend significant time behind bars,” said Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Lucy Tan, of IRS Criminal Investigation’s (IRS-CI) Houston Field Office. “She criminally abused her role as a tax return preparer and violated the trust...
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