A grand jury returned an indictment yesterday charging accountant a tax preparer with preparing false tax returns for clients and obstructing the IRS.
According to the indictment, Demetreus Hargrove operated The Wright Star LLC, a tax preparation business he used to prepare and file 30 false individual and business tax returns for the years 2019 through 2023. As part of his scheme, Hargrove allegedly encouraged and helped his clients to form businesses in order to claim fabricated business expenses. He also allegedly recharacterized his clients’ personal expenses as deductible business expenses and frequently filed business tax returns with the IRS without having first reviewed them with his clients. According to the indictment, Hargrove also prepared and filed tax returns for clients reporting false business losses and fabricated bad debts, even though his clients did not provide him with this information.
Hargrove was charged with 30 counts of aiding or assisting the filing of false tax returns. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison for each count of filing false returns for clients. He also faces a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.
Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division made the announcement.
IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.
Trial Attorneys Likhitha Butchireddygari and Lyndi McVey of the Criminal Division’s Tax Section are prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division (“Fraud Division”). The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department’s work to combat fraud supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.