A Pennsylvania tax preparer has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for using stolen identities of disabled children and children in foster care to file false federal income tax returns. Turay was a partner in Medman’s Financial business along with another defendant Mohamed Mansaray. The two operated what was described as an illegal business from two offices in Philadelphia, Pa.
Turay prepared more than 1,000 fraudulent returns that caused an estimated tax loss of $8 million. He also addied phony dependents to his own personal income tax returns and fled the country to his native Sierra Leone for nine months after the government moved to revoke his bail. He was returned to the custody of American law enforcement officials on March 21, 2017.
The Justice Department said many parents and legal guardians of children, whose identifies were stolen, were unable to claim their own children as dependents because they had already been claimed on other returns.
