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Joseph Kenny Batts

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SCAM ALERT: Don't Let Sketchy Tax Preparer Rip You Off, IRS Warns SCAM ALERT: Don't Let Sketchy Tax Preparer Rip You Off, IRS Warns
Scam ALERT: Don't Let Sketchy Tax Preparer Rip You Off, IRS Warns The IRS began accepting and processing 2020 tax year returns on Friday -- with a warning. Although most tax preparers deliver honest and professional service, “there’s a small number of dishonest preparers who set up shop during filing season to steal money and personal and financial information from clients,” said Michael Montanez, the special agent in charges of IRS Criminal Investigation’s Newark Field Office. Look no further than the results of some his squad’s year-round investigative work. The most recent example is Joseph Kenny Batts, a tax preparer in New Jersey who was sentence…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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NJ Tax Preparer Gets 5 Years In Fed Pen For $1.6M IRS Scam NJ Tax Preparer Gets 5 Years In Fed Pen For $1.6M IRS Scam
NJ Tax Preparer Gets 5 Years In Fed Pen For $1.6M IRS Scam A twice-convicted tax preparer who helped New Jersey clients scam the IRS out of $1.6 million is headed to federal prison for the next five years. Joseph Kenny Batts, 52, of Elkridge, MD became the third of five men sentenced for preparing bogus tax returns at Tax Pro’s and Tax Solutions & Associates in Essex and Union counties. Batts, who already had a federal tax fraud conviction on his record, was the only one of the group to go to trial. U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp convicted him of conspiracy to defraud the United States, as well as five counts of aiding in preparing fals…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
$900,000 Tax Scam Gets NJ Tax Preparer Four Years In Fed Pen $900,000 Tax Scam Gets NJ Tax Preparer Four Years In Fed Pen
$900,000 Tax Scam Gets NJ Tax Preparer Four Years In Fed Pen A federal judge sentenced a former tax preparer who worked in Essex and Union counties to a plea-bargained four years in prison for his role in a $900,000 income tax scam, authorities said. Because there’s no parole in the federal prison system, Tony V. Russell, 49, of Stone Mountain, GA must serve out the entire term for his guilty plea to conspiring to defraud the IRS. Russell was the first of five men sentenced for preparing bogus tax returns at Tax Pro’s and Tax Solutions & Associates, federal prosecutors said. A federal judge in Trenton last September convicted one of two co-owner…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Essex Preparer Convicted In $900,000 Tax Scam Essex Preparer Convicted In $900,000 Tax Scam
Essex Preparer Convicted In $900,000 Tax Scam An Essex County tax preparer with a fraud conviction already on his record was found guilty of obtaining $900,000 in illegal returns for clients. Joseph Kenny Batts, 50, of Elkridge, MD went to trial after four associates pleaded guilty in the federal conspiracy case. He was convicted of conspiring to defraud the United States and five counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false federal income tax returns. Batts and co-conspirator Damien Askew operated Tax Pro’s, a tax return preparation and payroll business in West Orange for nearly six years, federal authorities said. In o…

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by Jerry DeMarco