HAMMOND — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Indiana, Northern), published as received.
HAMMOND- Dorian L. Hall, 47, of Gary, Indiana was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Philip P. Simon today following his June 2021 guilty plea for aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return and filing a false tax return, announced United States Attorney Clifford D. Johnson.
Hall was sentenced to 39 months in prison, 1 year of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $1,053,549.95 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
According to court documents, Hall operated a tax return preparation business from 2014-2016. He prepared tax returns for clients in which he fabricated income numbers to maximize the Earned Income Tax Credit and provided false information to obtain a refundable education credit. By falsifying returns in this manner, Hall’s clients received tax refunds from the IRS in excess of what they were entitled to receive. Hall charged a fee for preparing each return, typically around $1,000.
During the 2014-2016 timeframe, Hall filed over 300 fraudulent tax returns, including his own. He received hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees for the returns he filed and he also did not declare that income to the IRS. Hall’s conduct caused a loss to U.S. taxpayers of over $1,000,000.
Hall had previously pled guilty to criminal tax charges in November 2015 and was sentenced in April 2016. After learning that he was under investigation by the IRS, he opened 15 new bank accounts to support his tax preparation activities while claiming to have ceased his operations. After being sent to prison, the IRS uncovered his additional tax preparation activities, resulting in the new charges and the sentence imposed today.
This case was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexandra McTague.
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