Five residents of Miami were sentenced to federal prison for their participation in a tax fraud scheme.

Ariana Fajardo Orshan, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida and Michael J. De Palma, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) made the announcement.

Jamal Dyer, 32, of Miami, was sentenced to 28 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release.  Jorge Alfonso Osorio Rodriguez, 35, of Miami, was sentenced to 28 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release.  Tramaine Das Sealy, 34, of Miami, was sentenced to 14 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release.  Jonathan Charles Edwards, 33, of Miami, was sentenced to 12 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release.  The final defendant, Daniel Alvaro Murias, 28, of Miami, was sentenced today to 14 months in prison, to be followed by one year of supervised release. Dyer, Osorio, Das Sealy, and Edwards previously pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to aid and assist the preparation of false tax returns, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, and Murias previously pled guilty to one count of aiding and assisting the preparation of a false tax return, in violation of Title 26, United States Code, Section 7206(2) (Case No. 18-20581-CR-SCOLA).

According to the court docket, including the agreed upon factual proffer, from February of 2015 through May of 2017, the defendants operated a tax preparation business called “The Tax Firm Miami” in Miami, Florida.  While operating out of The Tax Firm Miami, all five defendants knowingly and willfully submitted thousands of false statements and claims on their clients’ tax returns, including false claims to the Education Credit, the American Opportunity Credit, and the Residential Energy Credit, resulting in a greater tax refund being paid from the IRS to their clients, or a lesser tax liability owed by their clients to the IRS.  Collectively, through the submission of tax returns claiming these false credits, the defendants stole more than $12 million on behalf of themselves and their clients.

U.S. Attorney Fajardo Orshan commended the investigative efforts of IRS-CI in this matter.   Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel J. Marcet prosecuted this case.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.

Five Miami-Dade return preparers were charged with filing false tax returns with the IRS, in an indictment unsealed today.

Benjamin G. Greenberg, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Michael J. De Palma, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), made the announcement. 

 Jamal Dyer, Jonathan Charles Edwards, Daniel Alvaro Murias, Jorge Alfonso Osorio Rodriguez, and Tramaine Das Sealy, were charged by indictment in the Southern District of Florida with one count of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, and five counts of preparing false tax returns, in violation of Title 26, United States Code, Section 7206(2).

According to publicly filed court documents, the defendants allegedly prepared tax returns at The Tax Firm Miami, a business with multiple addresses in Miami-Dade County. The defendants and their co-conspirators unlawfully enriched themselves by charging clients tax preparation fees to prepare materially false tax returns. The defendants knowingly submitted false statements and claims on their clients' tax returns, including false claims to the Education Credit, the American Opportunity Credit, the Residential Energy Credit, and false Schedules C, resulting in a greater tax refund being paid from the IRS to their clients or a lesser tax liability owed by their clients to the IRS. The defendants collected fees from clients for each tax return prepared and deposited the fees into individual bank accounts that they each controlled. According to allegations made in court, the defendants caused approximately $15 million in tax loss over the three charged years.

If convicted of the charged offenses, the defendants are facing up to 5 years in prison for the conspiracy and up to 3 years in prison for each count related to the filing false tax returns.

An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Mr. Greenberg commended the investigative efforts of IRS-CI. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel J. Marcet.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov