Cleveland Woman Charged in $800,000 Tax Fraud

CLEVELAND, OH - A Cleveland woman has been charged for aiding and abetting an $800,000 tax fraud. Leona Moore, 38, was charged with 34 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false income tax returns.

From 2013 to 2015, police say, Moore ran a tax service that caused the IRS to issue $800,000 in fraudulently obtained refunds. Her business was called the Leona Moore Tax Services or Moore's Tax Service. She obtained her clients by word of mouth and social media.

Moore would file tax returns for clients using false statements, like identifying her client as self-employed, or providing inflated information about their income and lying about their number of dependents. All of the lies were meant to generate larger refunds based on the Earned Income Credit or the Additional Child Credit, court documents say.

Moore would reap her profits by splitting the artificially juiced refunds with her clients, police say.

The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service.

Photo from Shutterstock