Snellville Tax Preparer Sentenced To Prison For Fraud

SNELLVILLE, GA -- A tax preparer from Snellville has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for steering money intended for clients to his own bank accounts.

Okello Odongo, 36, also must pay $34,8222 in restitution to the IRS for filing 19 false tax returns and fraudulently receiving money from those returns, U.S. Attorney Emily Gray Rice in New Hampshire announced.

Odongo is a former resident of Manchester, New Hampshire, where he operated a tax return preparation business called Tax Smart Solutions Co.

In March, Odongo pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in New Hampshire to 19 counts of filing false tax returns and fraudulently obtaining tax refunds.

In addition to asking for more money than his customers were owed, Odongo directed the IRS to deposit that extra money into bank accounts he owned or to which he had access.

None of Odongo’s customers knew he was using their returns to defraud the government, Rice said in a news release.

He was indicted in the case in December.