Tax Preparer Sentenced for Fraud

BOSTON, MA – A Lynn tax preparer was sentenced on Thursday in U.S. District Court in connection with a scheme to file fraudulent tax returns and keep the extra funds she fabricated.

According to a statement from U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz' office, Claudia Carredano, 46, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge George A. O'Toole, Jr., to 30 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $320,760 of restitution and forfeiture.

Related: North Shore Tax Preparer Pleads Guilty to Fraud and Identity Theft

Carredano co-owned Maya Multi Services, a tax return preparation business on the North Shore. From 2008 to 2011, Carredano devised and executed a scheme to defraud the IRS. She filed dozens of false tax returns for her clients and included fake dependents, which the U.S. Attorney's office said were real people who were not her client's dependents.

The false tax returns and dependents were meant to increase the tax refund amount without her clients' knowledge. Carredano would direct the excess refund into her account. To conceal the scheme, Carredano gave her clients the versions of the tax returns without the false dependents.

Carredano pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of identity theft in March 2016.

Image via Shutterstock