A woman who owned a Freeport, Texas, tax preparation business will serve two years in prison after being convicted of aiding and assisting in the preparation and filing of false income tax returns.
Krystal Wright pleaded guilty to the charges April 17, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas Alamdar S. Hamdani said in a news release Tuesday from Houston.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey V. Brown also ordered that Wright serve a year of supervised release after she completes her federal prison sentence.
She also was ordered to pay $525,404 in restitution.
Freeport is around 61.5 miles south of Houston.
During the sentencing hearing, the judge was told of Wright’s criminal history, the scheme’s length and the harm done to the taxpayers who had trusted her.
Authorities said Wright was the sole owner and only tax preparer at WW2F in Freeport for six years.
Officials said most of her clients did not have a business, so they did not discuss business income or expenses with her.
Also, after Wright completed tax returns, they said, she did not review the completed documents with her clients and only provided them with the refund amount and the first two pages of the return.
As a result, the clients could not identify overstated or false items on their tax returns.
From 2017 through 2020, the news release said, Wright prepared and filed around 83 federal income tax returns that had false and fraudulent items, such as qualified solar electric property costs, gifts by cash or check, business expenses, wages, salaries, tips and supplies.
Authorities said the false and fraudulent filings led to a sustained tax harm of $525,404.
Wright will stay in custody while awaiting transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility, the news release said.
IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rodolfo Ramirez and James Hu prosecuted.
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