A federal court has permanently barred a Kansas City, Kan.-based preparer, Ahferom Goitom, from preparing federal returns for others at an Instant Tax Service store. The Justice Department has five other ongoing legal actions against the chain in Indianapolis; Las Vegas; Chicago; and Dayton, seeking to shut down the four largest franchise owners as well as trying to shutter the corporate franchiser, ITS Financial.
Goitom agreed to the ban, but did not admit to any wrongdoing. He was accused of forging W-2 forms and filed returns that were based on paycheck stubs, instead of on W-2 wage statements. The allegations were that he also fabricated income for phony businesses, claimed false education tax credits and filed returns without customer authorization as well as selling fake and deceptive loan products.
Goitom managed the Kansas City store that is his brother and co-defendant, Semere Tsehaye. The suit against Tsehaye is still pending.
Earlier this year, the government accused ITS Financial Group and its owner, Fesum Ogbazion, of deliberately ignoring "systemic and pervasive fraud" by its franchisees. Ogbazion was originally from Ethiopia and has said half his franchisees were of Ethiopian or Eritrean origin. In March, the government took actions against the parent company and the franchise owners, alleging they defendants lured mostly low-income customers by encouraging them to apply for loans for which they did not qualify, prior to tax season.
