ST. LOUIS – A man from Jennings, Missouri has been sentenced to 51 months in prison for his involvement in preparing at least 23 fake tax returns. He is also facing an order to repay $85,584 to the IRS. Darius D. Cobb ppled guilty in April to two felony counts related to aiding in the preparation of false and fraudulent tax returns.
Cobb had prepared over 200 tax returns for the tax years 2017 and 2018, and at least 23 of these returns contained false information. That included fabricated W-2 forms with incorrect wages and withholdings, deceptive Schedule C forms, and fraudulent claims for the American Opportunity Credit.
In one specific case, Cobb included a business loss of more than $14,000 for a taxpayer who was not a business owner, resulting in total losses amounting to approximately $517,000. IRS Criminal Investigations looked into the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Roy prosecuted it.