Louisiana Tax Preparer Sentenced to More Prison Time for Committing Second Tax Fraud Conspiracy

On July 21, 2022, the Department of Justice announced that a Louisiana woman was sentenced to 10 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States. This sentence will begin to run after the completion of her previous sentence, imposed on April 14, of one year and one day in prison.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Brittany Patterson of Jefferson Parish conspired with others from January to April 2015 to file false tax returns for clients of Pelicans Income Tax and Payroll Service, a return preparation business with locations in Kenner and Westwego. Patterson and others prepared false income and withholding amounts on returns in order to generate tax refunds that their clients were not entitled to. Patterson also falsified her own tax return for the 2014 tax year, submitting fictitious education expenses and dependent information to the IRS. Patterson and her associates fraudulently requested more than $550,000 in IRS refunds.

In addition to the prison term, US District Judge Sarah S. Vance ordered Patterson to serve three years of supervised release and pay $283,378 in restitution to the US. Patterson was sentenced to prison on April 14 for a separate tax conspiracy involving Crown Tax Service LLC, another return preparation business where he worked as a tax return preparer.

The announcement was made by Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

The case was investigated by the IRS-Criminal Investigation.

The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Jessica Kraft and William Montague of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Carter Guice for the Eastern District of Louisiana.