New Orleans tax preparer charged with tax and COVID fraud

Date: April 16, 2024

Contact: [email protected]

United States Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that Celina Bolton-Fultz, of Slidell, was charged today with thirty counts of assisting in filing false tax returns, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(2), five counts of filing her own false returns, in violation of 26 U.S.C. 7206(1), four counts of false statements, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001, and two counts of theft of government funds, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 641.

According to the bill of information, from 2018 through 2022, Bolton-Fultz submitted thirty false tax returns for seven clients of her tax preparation business. In these tax returns, Bolton-Fultz fraudulently inflated her client's income by adding fake "household help" income to their returns to obtain inflated tax credits that they otherwise would not have been eligible to receive. Bolton-Fultz also fraudulently reduced her own income on her 2017-2021 tax year returns, by reducing her gross receipts and reporting false expenses for businesses that she owned.

In addition to the tax crimes, Bolton-Fultz was charged with two types of fraud concerning funds disbursed under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act ("CARES Act"). Specifically, she was charged with four counts of making false statements, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001, for submitting fraudulent applications in 2020 and 2021 for Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP") loans. To accomplish this fraud, she provided false information about her businesses' payroll and submitted fake tax forms to support those PPP applications. Bolton-Fultz was also charged with theft of government funds, under 18 U.S.C. § 641, for submitting false applications to the Small Business Administration for Economic Injury Disaster Loan ("EIDL") EIDL funds. In this scheme, Bolton-Fultz inflated her businesses' revenues and expenses and submitted false tax documents to support her EIDL applications. In total, she is alleged to have received $204,103 through the fraudulent PPP and EIDL applications.

If convicted of these charges, Bolton-Fultz faces up to three years of imprisonment as to each of the tax counts, up to five years of imprisonment as to each of the PPP fraud counts, and up to ten years of imprisonment as to each of the EIDL fraud counts. She also faces a fine of up to $100,000 for the tax counts and up to $250,000 for the PPP and EIDL fraud counts, or the greater of twice the gross gain to the defendant or twice the gross loss to any person under 18 U.S.C. § 3571, or both. Following any term of imprisonment, Bolton-Fultz also faces up to three years of supervised release for the PPP and EIDL fraud counts, and up to one year of supervised release for the tax counts.

U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans reiterated that a bill of information is merely a charge and that the guilt of the defendant must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

The U.S. Attorney's Office would also like to acknowledge the assistance of IRS Criminal Investigation with this matter. The prosecution of this case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Moses, Health Care Fraud Coordinator.