Busted! Feds nab 24 tax preparers they believe cooked the books, got millions in bogus refunds

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More than two dozen tax preparers were charged Thursday with cheating Uncle Sam out of millions by faking deductions or even filing on behalf of dead people.

The feds said the fraud was methodical and massive - $95 million in suspicious refunds from tens of thousands of bogus returns.

Now hundreds of customers - some of whom didn't realize their exemptions and deductions were being inflated - face audits.

Prosecutors said one of the biggest offenders was Kevin Vaden, who ran Tax Refund on Westchester Ave. in the Bronx, where 70% of the work he did was criminal.

Local businessman Carlos Guerrero said he knew there was something fishy about Vaden even before the feds rolled up, arrested everyone and carted out boxes of records.

"He seemed like a shady person. I've been in retail for 20 years and can tell. He was nervous and his body language was strange. He asked me a million questions before even giving me his card," said Guerrero, who decided to go elsewhere for tax prep.

A five-person crew run by Vaden collected $29 million in tax refunds and most of them were based on lies, said Patricia Haynes, of the IRS' criminal investigation division in New York.

At a tax office on St. Nicholas Ave., Josephina Guzman allegedly used identity theft to collect refunds for the dead and create fictitious kids for clients.

The motivation was simple.

"Greed," said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, announcing the single largest sweep of crooked preparers. "We are deadly serious about tax fraud."

Daily News

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