FEDERAL JUDGE STOPS REPARATIONS-SCAM TAX PREPARER

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last Friday a federal court in Jackson, Miss., permanently barred Andrew Wiley of Durant, Miss., from preparing federal income tax returns for others. Judge Henry T. Wingate also ordered Wiley to contact people for whom he has prepared tax returns and to inform them that federal law does not allow a tax refund for reparations for slavery, segregation, separate-but-equal laws, treatment as a second-class citizen, or other similar grounds. In a related order, the court found that Wiley engaged in "deceptive conduct which has interfered substantially with the proper administration" of the tax laws. The court said that "no provision" of the tax laws "provides for any tax credit of the sort claimed by Wiley."

"Filing tax returns claiming reparations for slavery is fraudulent and illegal," said Eileen J. O'Connor, Assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division of the Department of Justice. "People who file illegal tax claims like those for slavery reparations can get themselves into serious trouble."

The Justice Department has previously obtained injunction orders against four other slavery reparations preparers: Willie Haugabook of Montezuma, Ga.; Eddie and Erma Mims of Sylvania, Ga.; and Robert Foster of Richmond, Va. For more information on these cases, go to: http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/02_tax_678.htm and http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/02_tax_575.htm

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