May
4, 2004
COVINGTON
RETURN PREPARER PLEADS GUILTY
Memphis,
TN - Terrell L. Harris, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of
Tennessee, and Sherree W. Preston, Special Agent in Charge of Internal
Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, announced today that
Barry Gray, of Covington, Tennessee, pled guilty to 10 counts of filing
false claims against the United States before U.S. District Judge J.
Daniel Breen. Gray faces a maximum penalty of 50 years in prison and
a fine of $2.5 million when he is sentenced on August 17, 2004.
Gray was indicted on November 25, 2003, charged with 21 counts of filing
false claims against the United States. According to the indictment,
Gray knowingly assisted in the preparation of 21 Amended U.S. Individual
Income Tax Returns (Forms 1040X) that Gray knew to be false and fraudulent
and caused them to be sent to the Internal Revenue Service. The amended
returns were prepared between October 12, 2001 and November 15, 2001,
and pertained to calendar years 1998 and 1999. All the returns claimed
an Education Tax Credit (Hope and Lifetime Learning Credit) that Gray
allegedly knew to be false when he placed it on the return. These fraudulent
credits ranged from $300 to $1,500.
As part of Gray's plea agreement that was filed during the hearing,
Gray admitted that the tax loss for sentencing guidelines purposes is
$376,395.00. The government agreed to dismiss the remaining counts of
the indictment.
This investigation was conducted by IRS Criminal Investigation Special
Agent Jim Jackson. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Parker represented
the government.
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