LAWFUEL – MICHAEL J. GARCIA, the United States Attorney for the
Southern District of New York, announced that ALBERT D. CHANG,
JR. was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for preparing
false income tax returns. The sentence was imposed in Manhattan
federal court by United States District Judge DENISE L. COTE.
CHANG pleaded guilty on January 15, 2008, to aiding and
assisting in the preparation of 30 false income tax returns for
clients of a tax preparation business he ran out of his residence
in the Bronx, New York. According to the felony Information
charging CHANG and statements made in court:
From 2002 through 2004, CHANG, on multiple occasions,
knowingly included false items on tax returns he prepared for
clients of his tax preparation business. The false items on the
returns led to increased refunds for his clients, and included:
1) fraudulent deductions for purported unreimbursed employmentrelated
expenses; 2) inflated business losses or losses incurred
by fictitious businesses; and 3) inflated or fictitious income
tax withholding. CHANG included false or inflated business
losses and false deductions on these thirty tax returns totaling
approximately $760,000.
In addition to the prison term, Judge COTE ordered
CHANG to pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service in the
approximate amount of $16,500.
Mr. GARCIA praised the investigative work of the
Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, and
thanked it for its assistance in this case.
The case was prosecuted by the Office’s Major Crimes
Unit. Special Assistant United States Attorney MICHAEL P.
BEN’ARY was in charge of the prosecution.
08-096 ###
