DENVER – Hieu Mattison, age 53, of Lakewood, Colorado, is headed to federal prison after being sentenced to 21 months for systematically defrauding the IRS. U.S. District Court Chief Judge Marcia S. Krieger handed down the sentence yesterday, concluding a case built by Acting United States Attorney Bob Troyer and the IRS – Criminal Investigation.
Mattison, the owner and primary operator of AAAE Financial, Inc. (AAAE) in Lakewood, wasn’t just preparing taxes; he was manufacturing refunds. Between 2008 and 2012, the indictment revealed, Mattison routinely added bogus income items – fake W-2 wages, nonexistent household help income, and fabricated business profits – to the returns of his largely low-income clientele. The goal? Inflate tax credits and trigger larger, fraudulent refunds.
The scheme wasn’t subtle. In some cases, Mattison swapped income fabrication for false education credits, a cynical move to maximize illicit gains. Despite employing four people at AAAE, Mattison personally reviewed every return before it hit the IRS, ensuring the fraud went undetected for as long as possible. The majority of these ill-gotten refunds were initially funneled into a business bank account under Mattison’s control.
Clients, often unaware of the deception, would then receive their refunds in cash, minus Mattison’s hefty “preparation” fee – a cut of the stolen money. An undercover agent’s visit to AAAE exposed the operation further. Mattison added $6,002 in false household help income and claimed educational expenses never discussed with the agent, solidifying the evidence of deliberate fraud. In total, Mattison filed 34 false returns for 16 individuals, causing a total tax loss of $133,544.
“Prison is the fitting end for a tax preparer in a position of trust who preyed on the poor to steal money from the government,” stated Acting U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer, a blunt assessment of Mattison’s betrayal. In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Krieger ordered Mattison to serve one year of supervised release and pay $133,544 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service. A key condition of his supervised release: he’s permanently barred from working in the tax preparation business.
Steven Osborne, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Denver Field Office, emphasized the agency’s commitment to combating return preparer fraud. “It is our hope that today’s sentence sends the strong message that tampering with the integrity of our nation’s tax system will result in jail time,” Osborne said. The case was investigated by IRS – Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Martha Paluch, Chief of the Economic Crimes Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Criminal Division.
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Key Facts
- State: Colorado
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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