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Court Affirms Loss Calculations Based on Sampled Data

By Jonathan Byrne

US v. Mehta: Mehta was a tax preparer in Maryland who would prepare tax returns for clients that contained phantom deductions beyond those which the clients related to him. He would then submit the returns electronically to the IRS and, via BankOne, participate in a program whereby the bank cut a check for the taxpayer, with the bank later taking possession of the actual refund from the IRS. Mehta was convicted at trial of multiple counts of aiding and abetting the preparation of false tax returns and wire fraud. He was sentenced to 48 months in prison.On appeal, Mehta challenged both his wire fraud convictions and his sentence. The Fourth Circuit affirmed on all counts. First, Mehta argued that the district court should have granted his motion for acquittal as to the wire fraud counts both because the evidence was insufficient to support convictions and that there was a variance between the indictment and the proof at trial...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Circuit Blog on February 18, 2010 (boomark / email).