Woodbury Preparer Sentenced to 6 Years for Tax Fraud

Woodbury-based tax preparer Thomas Thorndike, 62, was sentenced to six years in prison Tuesday for helping to file fraudulent tax returns in 2006 and 2007 that netted his clients more than $1 million in undeserved tax refunds. Along with the jail time, Thorndike was ordered to pay over $64,000 in back taxes, penalties and interest from his own fraudulent returns.

According to court documents and statements made in court, as owner of Cornerstone Financial Services of Woodbury, LLC, Thorndike prepared federal tax returns that improperly reduced the amount of tax due from his clients in a variety of ways, including falsely claiming deductions for charitable contributions and job expenses.

Thorndike also offered clients an opportunity to purchase audit insurance in order to be represented by Thorndike in the event of an audit by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  When clients were audited by the IRS, Thorndike provided blank Goodwill receipts as well as instructions as to how they should create a list of charitable donations that would correspond with the donation value he had entered on their returns.  He also would direct his clients to create mileage logs that would support deductions he had entered for employment-related travel.

In addition, Thorndike prepared tax returns for his two sons that improperly identified cash payments from him to his children as wages. He also claimed hundreds of thousands of dollars in improper business deductions, including, but not limited to, wage expenses for his children, which actually were personal payments to them; more than $8,000 in personal carpentry work; and a $27,983 “sale of business property” loss stemming from Thorndike’s selling of an engagement ring after the engagement had broken off.

Thorndike was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Mattei and Eric Glover and he was sentenced to 72 months imprisonment by Chief District Judge Alvin Thompson.

According to the U.S. Attorneys Office, Thorndike’s clients will have to settle their tax liabilities with IRS separately.

The preceding was based off of a press release from the Office of U.S. Attorney David B. Fein.