Final Notice

A federal jury convicted Marcia Predmore, Roderick Prescott, Suzanne Thompson, and Weldon Wulstein for their roles in an abusive layered trust tax shelter that DOJ says helped business owners evade federal income tax on up to 98 percent of business profits.  The shelter used a business trust, family trust, charitable trust, and private family foundation, and was marketed with the phrase “own nothi...

Vinh Q. Ho and Thanh Lan Do owned and managed a nationwide nail salon business operating under Anthony Vince Nail Salons, Prive Nail Spas, and Zen Nail & Spas. Prosecutors said the business paid a significant portion of nail technician compensation in cash, omitted that cash from year-end tax forms, trained salon managers to operate the under-the-table payroll, prepared false Forms 1099, and i...

A trust can be a legitimate estate planning tool. In this case, prosecutors said purported trusts became the vehicle for a multimillion-dollar tax refund fraud scheme. Brandon Hunt, his father David Hunt, his twin brother Baylon Hunt, and his half-brother Corey Burt were convicted at trial for their roles in a scheme to file false tax returns in the names of trusts they controlled. Prosecutors sai...

Dr. Pankaj Merchia controlled several sleep medicine companies and, on paper, looked like a Harvard-educated success story. Federal prosecutors said he was running a shell game.  From 2017 to 2019, Merchia billed insurers millions for sleep apnea machines former patients hadn't used in years, some of which had already been returned, and used the proceeds to buy a $2.1 million home. He billed...

Congress created the Employee Retention Credit to help struggling businesses keep workers on payroll during the pandemic. Candies Goode-McCoy of Las Vegas treated it like an ATM.  From approximately June 2022 through September 2023, Goode-McCoy conspired with others to file more than 1,200 tax returns for her own businesses and for others, claiming the Employee Retention Credit and the paid sick a...

John Kungu owned a successful business, Advanced Nursing Care, in Townsend, Delaware. He also owed the IRS nearly $1.2 million, and he decided to lie his way out of it.  In this episode of Final Notice , tax attorney Jason Carr breaks down how Kungu ran his scheme on two fronts: filing false personal and corporate returns that disguised hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal spending as busi...

Rafael Alvarez built a high-volume tax preparation business in the Bronx. Prosecutors say he also built one of the largest tax fraud schemes ever committed by a return preparer.  In this episode of Final Notice, Jason Carr, tax attorney, breaks down how Alvarez and ATAX New York allegedly prepared tens of thousands of false federal income tax returns using bogus itemized deductions, made-up capita...

Thomas C. Goldstein was one of the best-known appellate lawyers in the country. He argued more than 40 cases before the United States Supreme Court and co-founded SCOTUSblog, a widely read source for Supreme Court coverage.  He was also, according to federal prosecutors, a high-stakes poker player who frequently played in games involving tens of millions of dollars.  In this episode of Final Notic...

Michael Kirouac owned or controlled four companies: HK Manchester, HK Loudon, HK Hudson, and HK Pelham. Prosecutors said he applied for and obtained more than $1 million in Economic Injury Disaster Loans, certifying that the money would be used solely as working capital and not for personal expenses or business relocation.  But when Kirouac wanted to purchase Angus Lea Golf Course and could not ob...

Rene Mauricio Escobar and Juana Nelida Escobar operated Escobar Plastering in Orlando, Florida. Federal prosecutors said they used the company to help construction subcontractors pay workers off the books, avoid payroll taxes, and avoid workers’ compensation insurance premiums.  According to the DOJ, the defendants caused certificates of insurance in Escobar Plastering’s name to be sent to constru...

Kerwin Aldric Jordan was a California tax preparer who operated The Jordan Corporation and Jordan and Jordan A Financial Conquest. Prosecutors said he held himself out as a tax attorney and certified public accountant, even though he was neither.  In this episode of Final Notice , Jason Carr breaks down how Jordan used non-existent businesses and fake business losses to reduce clients’ taxable inc...

David Gebhardt was a Tennessee-licensed attorney from Brentwood. According to DOJ, he bought cryptocurrency, used decentralized exchanges and nominees to conceal income, and failed to report millions of dollars in income from cryptocurrency sales and his consulting business.  From March 2018 through December 2022, DOJ says Gebhardt withdrew approximately $6.6 million from cryptocurrency sales. Des...

Harry Lamar Curtis III owned Information Advisory Group LLC, a cybersecurity and IT company based in Houston. He was also a former certified public accountant.  According to the Department of Justice, Curtis was required to withhold and pay over employment taxes from employee paychecks, including federal income taxes, FICA taxes, and employer matching amounts. As part of his plea, Curtis admitted...