General Manager of Columbus Home Health Care Agency Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud
A Columbus businessman pleaded guilty to aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return, on November 19, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney David M. DeVillers of the Southern District of Ohio.
According to information provided in court, Abdikarim Abdirahman, 57, was the general manager of Diversity Home Health Care (Diversity), a home health care agency operating in Columbus and Springfield, Ohio. After obtaining personal identifying information of several individuals, Abdirahman created and submitted to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) documentation fraudulently indicating that Diversity had hired and paid those individuals. From 2009 through 2012, Abdirahman provided this false information to Diversity’s tax return preparer, representing that Diversity paid those individuals hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation and that these payments were deductible to Diversity as business expenses. In addition, Abdirahman caused these sham employees to falsely report on their individual tax returns that they had received income from Diversity, to claim credits, and to request refunds from the IRS. In total, Abdirahman’s conduct caused a tax loss of more than $540,000.
U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus will set sentencing at a later date. Abdirahman faces up to three years in prison and one year of supervised release, as well as monetary penalties and restitution.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
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