KC tax preparer pleads guilty to wire fraud, false tax returns

Date: March 27, 2024

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Kansas City, MO - A Kansas City, Mo., tax preparer pleaded guilty in federal court today to a wire fraud scheme in which he filed federal income tax returns for his clients that contained false information.

Ebens Louis-Loradin pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes to one count of wire fraud and 10 counts of aiding in the preparation of false tax returns.

Louis-Loradin, who has been a tax preparer since 2012, admitted that he engaged in a scheme to defraud the IRS and obtain money by preparing and electronically filing federal tax returns containing false items over a six-year period from March 20, 2013, to April 14, 2019. Louis-Loradin claimed items on his clients' federal tax returns that his clients were not entitled to claim, including dependents, inflated income tax withholding amounts, credits for child and dependent care expenses, American opportunity credits, earned income credits, itemized deductions, and business losses. These false claims had the effect of reducing his clients' taxable income and increasing his clients' tax credit eligibility.

Under federal statutes, Louis-Loradin is subject to a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison without parole for his conviction of wire fraud and up to three years in federal prison without parole for his conviction on each of the 10 counts of aiding in the preparation of false tax returns. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing is scheduled on Aug. 1, 2024.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas P. Heberle. It was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation (CI).

CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.