Nevada Return Preparer Pleads Guilty To Filing More Than $2.7 Million In Fraudulent Tax Returns

Source: United States Attorneys General

Headline: Nevada Return Preparer Pleads Guilty To Filing More Than $2.7 Million In Fraudulent Tax Returns

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – A Las Vegas, Nevada, tax return preparer pleaded guilty today to filing fraudulent tax returns, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Dayle Elieson for the District of Nevada.

According to documents and information provided to the court, from 2009 through 2015, Ofelia Ronquillo, 62, prepared fraudulent income tax returns for clients through a business known as A.R. Financial LLC and later AJRC Tax Services, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ronquillo included false items on her clients’ tax returns, including bogus charitable contributions, capital losses, and unreimbursed employee expenses—such as meals and transportation expenses, as well as claimed inflated refunds to which her clients were not entitled.  Ronquillo admitted that she caused a tax loss of more than $2.7 million.

U.S. District Court Judge Andrew P. Gordon scheduled sentencing for May 17.  Ronquillo faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison for each count, as well as a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and U.S. Attorney Elieson commended special agents of Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Trial Attorneys Thomas W. Flynn and Eric C. Schmale of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case.

Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’s website.

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