Quantcast

Briarwood tax man stole thousands: IRS

Briarwood tax man stole thousands: IRS
Photos courtesy IRS
By Rich Bockmann

A Briarwood tax preparer is facing up to 72 years in the pen after he was convicted last week of filing hundreds of phony tax rate returns, federal prosecutors said.

A Manhattan federal jury found Mahamadou Daffe, 31, guilty Jan. 10 of running two separate schemes out of his Brooklyn office, MD Tax Services, to bilk the federal government out of millions of dollars, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s office said.

Between 2008 and 2013, Daffe “prepared and electronically filed tax returns and added false dependents for a fee to enable the taxpayer to receive a larger refund,” according to his indictment.

The Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Unit said Daffe collected $1,000 per return from his clients in exchange for claiming complete strangers as dependents on their returns.

In a separate scheme he used stolen identities to file hundreds of phony tax returns through an online tax-preparation service and then shepherded the refunds into several bank accounts he controlled under his own name and several aliases he used.

All told, Daffe stole $1.5 million from the IRS and attempted to steal another $4.5 million before he was caught last year.

He was convicted following a weeklong trial on eight counts related to the scams, including conspiracy to steal government funds, substantive theft of government funds, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and identity theft.

Daffe is facing 72 years in prison if he is sentenced consecutively on each count, though it is likely he will receive such a stiff penalty.

The top charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud carries a penalty of 20 years in jail and twice the amount Daffe scammed.

He was scheduled to be sentenced by Manhattan District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald April 24.

Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.