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A Dallas, Texas, area tax return preparer was sentenced to 63 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States and for aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns, on July 19, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox for the Northern District of Texas.

A Dulles, Virginia, equipment rental business owner pleaded guilty to employment tax fraud and illegally possessing a firearm, on July 19, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and United States Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger for the Eastern District of Virginia.

A Dallas, Texas, area tax return preparer was sentenced to 63 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States and for aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns, on July 19, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox for the Northern District of Texas.

A Kansas City, Missouri, woman was sentenced to prison for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft related to the filing of false tax returns, on July 16, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Stephen R. McAllister for the District of Kansas.

A federal court in Miami, Florida, permanently barred Georgina Gonzalez and GeorginagonzalezLLC, Ideal Tax Pros LLC, and Trinity Tax Service LLC, from preparing federal tax returns for others and owning or operating a tax preparation business, the Justice Department announced on July 16. The court also ordered that Gonzalez and Trinity Tax Service LLC disgorge $48,214.30, representing the ill-gotten gains that they received for the preparation of tax returns making false claims.

A Texas state district judge has been convicted of bribery and obstruction, announced Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick for the Southern District of Texas.

The United States, on July 12, extradited Andres Felipe Arias Leiva, who served as Colombia’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development from 2005 to 2009, to face a prison sentence in that country based on a 2014 conviction by the Supreme Court of Colombia for two offenses committed while Arias served in public office.

A computer software development company owner pleaded guilty to failing to account for and pay over employment taxes withheld from his employees’ wages, on July 8 announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney R. Trent Shores for the Northern District of Oklahoma.

Michael H. Higa, the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and controller of several engineering businesses, was sentenced to 40 months in prison in Honolulu, Hawaii, on July 2, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Kenji M. Price for the District of Hawaii.

A Winston-Salem, North Carolina, resident was sentenced to 21 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States by filing false tax returns, on July 1, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Matthew G. T. Martin for the Middle District of North Carolina.