Its national franchisor, ITS Financial, based in Dayton, Ohio, was barred via a preliminary injunction in November. Franklin was also permanently barred from operating a tax preparation business. In both the case of Franklin and ITS, the defendants consented to injunction without admitting allegations against them.
Franklin and his company were accused of fabricating income for phony businesses to obtain larger tax credits, forging W-2 forms, filing returns based on paycheck stubs instead of W-2 forms, claiming false tax education credits and reporting false filing statuses for customers.
Franklin's offices were also accused of filing tax returns without customers' authorization and selling false and deceptive loan products to customers.
A two-week trial was held in the Ohio case regarding the government's request for an injunction to permanently bar ITS from the business. A decision has not yet been issued.