Tax preparer imprisoned for tax fraud resulting in over half a million in losses

Date: Oct. 15, 2024

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HOUSTON - A local tax business owner has been sentenced for aiding and assisting in the preparation and filing of false income tax returns, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.

Krystal Wright pleaded guilty April 17.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey V. Brown has now ordered Wright to serve 24 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by one year of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay $525,404 in restitution. At the hearing, the court heard how her criminal history, the length of her scheme and the harm to the taxpayers warranted a prison sentence. In handing down that sentence, the court noted that he hoped Wright would learn from her actions.

Wright was the sole owner and only tax preparer at WW2F in Freeport for six years.

Most of Wright's clients did not have a business nor did they discuss any business income or expenses with her. After Wright completed a tax return, she did not review the completed documents with clients and only provided them with the refund amount and first two pages of the return. This prevented her clients from identifying overstated or false items on their tax returns.

From 2017 through 2020, Wright prepared and filed approximately 83 federal income tax returns that contained false and fraudulent items. Some included qualified solar electric property costs, gifts by cash or check, business expenses, wages, salaries, tips and supplies.

The false and fraudulent filings resulted in a total sustained tax harm of $525,404.

She will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rodolfo Ramirez and James Hu prosecuted the case.

IRS Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rodolfo Ramirez and James Hu prosecuted the case. IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.

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