Leslie Louise Brewster, Tax Fraud and Identity Theft, North Carolina 2013

A Durham woman has been sentenced to serve 70 months in federal prison for crimes related to preparing false tax returns and identity fraud.

Leslie Louise Brewster, of Durham, N.C., was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of North Carolina William Osteen Jr., in Greensboro, N.C., to 70 months in federal prison for crimes related to preparing false tax returns and identity fraud. Brewster was also ordered to pay restitution to the IRS of $92,910.

On Feb. 20, 2013, Brewster pleaded guilty to three felonies relating to her preparation of false tax returns: one count of aiding and assisting the preparation of a false tax return; one count of wire fraud; and one count of aggravated identity theft.

According to court documents, Brewster was the manager of the Burlington, N.C. branch of Nothing But Taxes, a tax return preparation franchise with locations throughout North Carolina. Brewster falsified federal income tax returns for hundreds of Nothing But Taxes clients in order to obtain larger tax refunds for the clients than they were actually entitled to receive. The returns Brewster prepared for clients reported, among other items, false dependents, fictitious businesses and bogus education credits.

Brewster also purchased personal identifying information, including names and Social Security numbers, from members of the community. Brewster used this personal identifying information to claim false dependents on tax returns she prepared for clients, and provided some of the identities she purchased to other return preparers at Nothing But Taxes’ Burlington location for their use in a similar fashion. Brewster typically charged Nothing But Taxes clients a cash fee, above Nothing But Taxes’ normal flat fee for preparation of a return, to prepare a return containing false dependent information.

Brewster’s sentence is the latest development in a series of tax-related crimes committed by employees of Nothing But Taxes. Recently, two other defendants in related cases were sentenced to prison for tax crimes arising out of the Nothing But Taxes scheme. Saichelle McNeill, a return preparer at the Greensboro branch of Nothing But Taxes, was sentenced to serve 27 months in prison on Aug. 20, 2013. Tiffany Rogers, a return preparer at the Burlington branch of Nothing But Taxes, was sentenced to serve 48 months incarceration on Aug. 14, 2013.

The Justice Department will continue to investigate and prosecute fraudulent tax return preparers and those who steal identities to use in their tax fraud, whether the crime is committed by a single thief or a ring of thieves, said Kathryn Keneally, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

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