FEDERAL COURT PERMANENTLY BARS MISSOURI MAN
FROM PREPARING FEDERAL TAX RETURNS

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department announced today that a federal court in St. Louis has permanently barred Anthony J. Borrelli of St. Peters, Missouri, from preparing tax returns. The court found that Borrelli, who operated under the name Stallion Enterprises, prepared tax returns for customers claiming fraudulent refunds based on fictitious or inflated deductions or credits. Typical returns included deductions for sham medical expenses and charitable contributions. The injunction order permanently bans Borrelli from preparing tax returns for others, requires him to give his customer list to the Justice Department, and requires him to inform his customers of the court order.

On May 14, 2004, the same federal court sentenced Borrelli to 33 months in federal prison and ordered him to pay restitution, following his earlier guilty plea on two counts of willfully aiding in the preparation of false or fraudulent federal income tax returns.

“Preparing fraudulent tax returns cheats not only the United States Treasury but also all law-abiding taxpayers,” said Eileen J. O’Connor, Assistant Attorney General for the United States Department of Justice Tax Division. “Shutting down fraudulent return preparation is one of the Tax Division’s highest priorities,” she added.

The order barring Borrelli from preparing returns is permanent, and will thus remain in place after he serves his criminal sentence. The order notes that Borelli continued to prepare false and fraudulent federal-income-tax returns after he was indicted and that the IRS determined that returns prepared by Borrelli over a six-year period understated his customers’ tax liabilities by a total of more than $1.6 million. Further information about this case can be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/04_tax_229.htm. Further information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division is available at <http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/index.html>.

More information regarding Borrelli’s criminal prosecution is available at:

http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/usaopress/2004/borrelli_anthony.html

http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/04_tax_229.htm

Kristin H. Hodges, a Justice Department trial attorney, represented the United States in this case. The case was investigated and referred to the Department of Justice by the IRS’s Small Business/Self-Employed Division.

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04-424