United States of America v. Mohammad T. Al-Suqi

Alexandria, Virginia, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with preparing and filing false tax returns and making false statements to federal agents when interviewed about the activities.

Mohammad T. Al-Suqi, 55, of Annandale, Virginia, was indicted by a federal grand jury on April 25, 2013, and was convicted of nineteen counts of aiding the preparation of a false income tax return, two counts of filing his own false income tax returns, and one count of making false statements to federal agents following a jury trial on July 12, 2013.

The defendant owned and operated the tax preparation businesses Ideal Accounting Solution and Mass Accounting and Tax Corp. in Falls Church, Va. For the tax years 2007 through 2010, the defendant prepared and filed on behalf of his taxpayer clients federal income tax returns that contained materially false and fraudulent information, including false itemized deductions on Schedule A and fraudulent education credits on Form 8863, all of which resulted in large federal income tax refunds for the taxpayers and at least $4 million in losses to the IRS. For his part, the defendant received fees of between $100 and $250 per return and prepared thousands of federal income tax returns during the relevant time period.
As part of the government’s investigation, the defendant also prepared a fraudulent tax return in 2011 for an undercover IRS agent posing as a taxpayer. The episode, which was recorded by the undercover agent and presented to the jury at trial, showed the defendant falsifying expenses and deductions in order to produce an income tax refund and indicating that his success as a tax preparer was associated with his ability to manufacture large refunds for his clients.

The defendant also included false and fraudulent expenses and credits on his own 2008 and 2009 federal income tax returns. In 2013, after the IRS revoked his ability to file electronic tax returns, the defendant continued to prepare and electronically file tax returns using an electronic filing number assigned to his wife, and the defendant lied to IRS agents when he was questioned about the activities.

This case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Jasmine H. Yoon and Paul J. Nathanson and former Assistant United States Attorney Charles F. Connolly prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

The Defendant was sentenced to 36 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release.