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“Refunds are issued to taxpayers who are entitled to them,” said Special Agent in Charge Jonathan D. Larsen of the Newark IRS-Criminal Investigation office after Sharon Ashby was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Newark on Wednesday.
Ashby, 38, prepared four dozen false returns "by intentionally including fraudulent employment information on Forms W-2 showing the clients earning wages from employers where they were not employed or claiming deductions to which they were not entitled in order to generate false refunds," Larsen said.
She "filed these fraudulent returns with the IRS electronically and kept a portion of the refunds for herself," he said.
The investigation was conducted by IRS-Criminal Investigation of Newark and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
U. S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton also ordered Ashby to serve two years on supervised release and pay full restitution.
Ashby pleaded guilty in late June to one count of making false claims to the government.
Handling the case for the government is Assistant U.S. Attorney Meredith J. Williams.
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