A 29-year-old Atlanta woman accused of claiming more than $20 million in fraudulent tax refunds was sentenced to more than 12 years in jail this week, according to federal authorities.
Investigators said Cheryl Singleton got overly creative with the tax code at the tax preparation business, Advanced Tax Services, that she owned and operated at several metro Atlanta locations.
Between 2011 and 2016, authorities said, Singleton instructed employees to use several illegal techniques to boost customer’s tax refunds. Besides filling tax forms with fake financial figures, employees claimed false dependents and non-existent businesses on customers’ tax forms.
Singleton's business didn't stop there, according to a press release from Stuart M. Goldberg, with the Justice Department's tax division, and U.S. Attorney John A. Horn in Atlanta.
The U.S. Attorney’s office said Singleton and her employees also offered clients “Obama stimulus” payments to get their personal identification information, then filed false tax returns without their knowledge or permission.
Authorities said Singleton, using stolen or fake IDs, also attempted to take out more than $421,000 in fraudulent loans and credit card charges from USAA, a financial institution that focuses on military members and their relatives.
Singleton pleaded guilty to wire fraud last August, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Besides the 150-month prison sentence, she was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $4.9 million in restitution to the IRS and $105,597 to USAA.
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