Jeffrey Charles jailed, Freddie Wilson investigated, Rashia Wilson awaits trial as IRS tax fraud makes headlines
A Virginia man was sentenced on Monday to three years, 10 months in federal prison for tax fraud.
Jeffrey Charles was convicted by a federal jury in Newport for filing a false tax return and three counts of assisting in the preparation of false tax returns. Charles will join Rashia Wilson, the self-proclaimed ‘First Lady of Tax Fraud,’ in headlines raising concers over fraud at tax time.
Freddie Wilson may be facing tax fraud charges, but thumbed his nose at investigators with photos like this one on Facebook
Charles, a registered nurse and the administrator of a rehabilitation center, was convicted of conspiring with his daughter and son-in-law. He collected federal income taxes, prepared three false tax returns for his daughter, and filed one in his own name, the court heard during the six-day trial in November.
Along with the prison term, Charles was ordered to pay more than $300,000 in restitution to the IRS.
Stories and convictions of tax fraud are becoming commonplace.
Stolen identity refund fraud took off in Tampa as a street crime. The practice caught on in poor communities, evident when police started finding food stamp benefit cards commingled with hijacked refunds. Neighborhood drug dealers joined the scam. Court records allege that some claims were even filed on a government computer in a public housing complex by a woman then employed by the Tampa Housing Authority.
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration puts the national loss to the IRS and Treasury at $5 billion a year, with much of the action in Tampa.
According to an IRS criminal affidavit, Wilson deposited more than $300,000 worth of fraudulent U.S. Treasury checks into accounts he opened in the name of his business and then used the money for personal expenses, including buying a 2011 Chevrolet Camaro.
Authorities say Wilson spent more than $30,000 at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino and cashed checks to himself for more than $110,000.
On his Facebook page, a grinning Wilson is wearing a white suit and holding a red chalice with rhinestones spelling “Fred.”
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