Six Mobile, Alabama Tax Preparers Indicted in Alleged $177M Fraudulent Refund Scheme

Status: Allegations; indictment. An indictment is a formal accusation, not a finding of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

The indictment

On Oct. 28, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Mobile unsealed an indictment charging six people connected to JB Accounting Tax Service LLC (Atlanta News First; DOJ).

• The defendants: owner Jennifer Beverly, 47, and employees Kennedy Lawrence Stovall Winston, Jadasha Bowman, Solida Lucille Green, Paris Lovett and Shermeka Benjamin.
• The charges: wire-fraud conspiracy and wire fraud.
• Winston: the former University of Alabama basketball player, 42, also faces a separate federal charge over stolen Treasury checks (FOX10; Atlanta News First).

What the indictment alleges

The indictment says the group filed more than 9,000 false returns from 2021 to 2024, claiming $177 million in refunds. It says the IRS paid about $81 million of that. The alleged false claims include COVID-19 credits, fuel tax credits and education credits (Atlanta News First).

The investigation

The case is part of an operation by the DOJ's National Fraud Enforcement Division, IRS Criminal Investigation and the FBI. The DOJ listed it on Oct. 28 (DOJ).

What's next

Each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. No court date is set yet (Atlanta News First).