MEMPHIS, Tenn. –Two former tax return preparers for Mo’ Money Taxes pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return.
According to prosecutors, Memphians Jeremy Blanchard, 35, and Erik Pittman, 35, prepared numerous false tax returns for the 2011 tax year.
Blanchard and Pittman admitted that they “created and inflated fictitious and fraudulent tax credits, including the Earned Income Credit and the American Opportunity credit, to claim tax refunds that customers were not entitled to receive. As part of their guilty pleas, Blanchard and Pittman admitted that their conduct caused a loss to the Internal Revenue (IRS) of more than $250,000, but less than $550,000.”
Blanchard and Pittman each face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the conspiracy charge and three years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the charge of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns.
They will be sentenced in June.
WREG’s Zaneta Lowe has reported extensively on the allegations and charges against the company.
One of her last reports was that one of the Mo’ Money owners, Markey Granberry, opened a new tax business in Memphis called Marquis Taxes.