LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A Riverside tax preparer who filed thousands of fraudulent tax returns that included bogus medical expenses and mortgage interest deductions was sentenced Monday to six years in federal prison.
Andrew Zepeda Hansack, 40, pleaded guilty in February to two counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return.
U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson at the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles certified the terms of the plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office and imposed the 72-month sentence, calling Hansack's offenses among "the most serious ... I've encountered while on the bench."
Along with prison time, Wilson ordered the defendant to pay $3.36 million in restitution to the government, as well as a $50,000 fine.
Starting in January 2015, Hansack prepared personal income tax returns at AJ Loyal Income Tax Service, a Riverside-based company.
He filed returns that included false itemized deductions, stating that clients had paid mortgage interest for their homes, when in fact the filers did not own residential property, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Hansack also claimed false medical expenses, sales tax, and gifts by cash or check on some tax returns that he prepared in Riverside County, prosecutors said.
For the tax years 2015 through 2019, Hansack filed about 2,533 returns with false deductions on behalf of his clients. Because of his Hansack's actions, the Internal Revenue Service was unable to assess and collect the correct amount of taxes owed by the filers, resulting in revenue losses of between $3,369,886 and $3,799,378, according to prosecutors.
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