Christopher Ahern, Tax Evasion Scheme, NY 2024

Christopher Ahern, 40, of Little Neck, New York, is headed to federal prison for 30 months after admitting to one of the largest tax fraud schemes to hit the Bronx in years. The former owner of the tax preparation business Get My Refund Fast was sentenced today in Manhattan federal court for filing nearly 5,000 false tax returns that swindled more than $4.7 million in credits and expenses from the IRS.

Ahorn pled guilty on July 5, 2016, before U.S. District Judge Deborah A. Batts, who handed down the sentence. From 2012 through 2013, Ahern’s operation flooded the IRS with fraudulent filings, falsely claiming education credits for clients who didn’t qualify. The scam worked—too well. The IRS disbursed approximately $3 million based on the phony returns, while Ahern raked in over $1.5 million in preparation fees.

“Christopher Ahern used his clients’ tax returns to bilk the IRS of more than $3 million in fraudulent credits, pocketing more than a million dollars in fees,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. “But because of the investigative efforts of the IRS, Ahern’s dishonest business is closed.”

Get My Refund Fast, located in the heart of the Bronx, presented itself as a quick-fix solution for low- to middle-income taxpayers. Instead, it became a vehicle for systemic fraud. Authorities say Ahern not only falsified education credits but also forged documents and misled clients about the legitimacy of inflated claims—a betrayal of trust that spanned hundreds of filers.

In addition to his 30-month prison term, Ahern was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $3 million in restitution. The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigations, whose forensic audit work dismantled the scheme piece by piece, exposing the depth of the deception.

The prosecution was handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn G. Crowley leading the case out of the Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. The verdict sends a clear message: exploiting the tax system for personal profit carries a steep price.