JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A federal jury on Wednesday found the owner of a Jacksonville tax-return preparation firm guilty of conspiring to commit wire fraud, and aiding in the preparation and presentation of fraudulent tax returns to the IRS, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Adrian George faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison.
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George was indicted on March 30, 2017.
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, George owned and operated Professional Tax Service South, LLC, and taught his employees ways to include false information in tax returns to assure that his clients received large tax refunds.
Acting at his direction, George’s employees offered to prepare fraudulent or “boosted” returns for clients in exchange for cash payments from the proceeds of the illegitimate tax refunds, prosecutors said.
After being in business for less than two years, prosecutors said, George and his employees had prepared and filed 748 tax returns for clients -- all of which requested refunds.
Typically, only 62 percent of tax returns filed nationwide request refunds.
Prosecutors said the tax returns prepared and filed by George and his employees requested a total of approximately $3.2 million in refunds.
George's sentencing hearing has not yet been set.