27278: Hermantin(News)Tax preparers accused of filing false returns for hundreds of Haitians

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Leonie Hermantin

Sun Sentinel

Tax preparers accused of filing false returns for hundreds of Haitians in S. 
Florida




By Harriet Johnson Brackey
Business Writer

January 13, 2006



A federal court in Fort Lauderdale issued an injunction to stop two Orlando tax 
preparers accused of filing false tax returns for hundreds of Haitian 
immigrants, resulting in more than $700,000 in tax refunds.

Chief Judge William L. Zloch held that Jean-Marie Boucicaut, who is also known 
as Jean-Marie Boursiquot, and Marie Thelemarque filed tax returns claiming 
credits and deductions to which the taxpayers weren't entitled. In all, the 
Justice Department says 593 refund checks totaling $772,249 were issued.

The pair, who began preparing returns in the mid-1990s, focused on Haitian 
immigrants, most of them living in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, according 
to a Department of Justice lawsuit filed in April.

The suit says the scheme typically worked this way: Someone claiming to be an 
immigrant or a U.S. government official would visit Haitian immigrants at home 
and declare that the government owed money to "everybody in the U.S."

The victims would provide this person copies of their past tax returns. Then 
the IRS would be sent a change of address notice, directing all future mail to 
a post office box. Next, the IRS would receive an amended return for an earlier 
year, claiming deductions in some cases for the entire amount of tax owed. Most 
victims didn't receive any of the refunds sent to the P.O. boxes.

The complaint said the IRS detected the fraud before issuing more than $3.3 
million more in refunds on 2,800 returns.

In 2001, the Department of Justice began an initiative to stop fraudulent tax 
promoters. The agency has obtained injunctions against more than 100 tax 
preparers.

Boucicaut and Thelemarque could not be reached for comment. A person answering 
a phone listed in Boucicaut's name in Orlando said he did not live there. A 
phone listed to Thelemarque in Orlando was disconnected.

There were no numbers available for the two firms named by the Justice 
Department, Tax Review Corp. and Leadership Network Corp.

The injunction issued Wednesday directs the pair to stop filing returns for 
others, notify their customers of the injunction and to give the government a 
list of customers' names and personal information.

Harriet Johnson Brackey can be reached at hjbrackey@sun-sentinel.com or 
954-356-4614.


Copyright © 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel