Tax Fraud Blotter: Win some, lose some
Shave and go back to school; two books of income; voluntary surrender; and other recent tax matters.
Administrative Matters
Concord, New Hampshire: Anthony Sanborn, aka Andy Sanborn, 64, pleaded guilty to embezzlement. Sanborn is scheduled to be sentenced on October 15.
Sanborn owns and operates Win Win Win, a company that does business as Concord Casino. Sanborn applied for and received $844,000 in Economic Injury Loan grants from the Small Business Administration. In applying for the loan, Sanborn guaranteed that he would only use the loan as capital for Win Win Win. However, he used $255,232.72 of the money on expenses. For example, on January 18, 2022, Sanborn used $48,750 in EIDL funds to purchase a 2006 Porsche Cayman.
The charge of embezzlement is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross profit or loss, whichever is greater.
vegas: A Nevada woman has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States by filing false COVID-19 tax returns. The government recommended a 40-month prison sentence.
Adonia Stiles, of Las Vegas, is a real estate agent, tax preparer and clothing store owner. Stiles conspired with others to file false and fraudulent tax returns seeking reimbursement for Employee Retention and sick and family leave benefits.
Stiles caused one of the co-conspirators, Candies Goode-McCoy, to file 11 false employment tax returns for Stiles’ clothing store claiming a total of more than $800,000 in tax refunds. Stiles also referred 18 other people to Goode-McCoy, against whom Goode-McCoy filed more than 150 false tax returns. Goode-McCoy claimed $15 million in fraud on behalf of these taxpayers, causing the United States to pay over $7 million in restitution. In exchange for making these referrals to Goode-McCoy, Stiles received at least $135,000. She did not report this income on her individual income tax returns. In April 2026, Goode-McCoy was sentenced to 54 months in prison for her role in the scheme.
Stiles was also ordered to serve two years of supervised release and pay $7,079,121.48 in restitution.
Miami: A Florida man pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns as part of a scheme to claim more than $4.2 million in fraudulent tax refunds.
McDonald Preval of Miami admitted to filing false tax returns on behalf of a trust he controlled.
Prosecutors said Preval filed numerous false tax returns against himself and the trusts he controlled. The returns allege that the trustees made large sums of money and paid taxes to the IRS, which allegedly allowed them to make large sums of money.
However, the auditors found that the trustees did not receive the reported income or pay the claims, meaning they were not eligible for the requested funds.
Preval also filed a 2023 tax return that failed to report income from his job, authorities said.
Fraudulent recovery filed by Preval, either on behalf of himself or the trustees, seeking to recover over $4.2 million in taxes.
Preval pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns. He will be sentenced on October 6, and will face up to three years in prison.
He could also face supervised release, restitution and fines.
Naples, Florida: A former Naples tax preparer has been fined nearly $600,000 for filing false tax returns.
Wilner Cenecharles, 61, was sentenced to one year in federal prison on two counts of filing false tax returns and to a concurrent one-year sentence on six counts of assisting in the preparation of false tax returns in 2019 and 2020. Cenecharles was also ordered to serve one year of supervised release, pay an IRS special assessment of $800, and a surcharge of $65.
Federal sentencing guidelines, which weighed the crime, Cenecharles’ age and lack of criminal history, recommended 24 to 30 months in prison, a fine of $10,000 to $95,000 and a special assessment of $800. The maximum statutory penalty for each count is three years in prison, a fine of $250,000, up to one year of supervised release and a special assessment of $100.
The judge waived the fine because of Cenecharles’ financial situation.
Cenecharles runs Economical Financial Services, the same location as the Excelsior Barber Shop, a gathering place for many of Naples’ Haitian members in River Park. The longtime small business is famous for providing free back-to-school haircuts and backpacks full of school supplies.
He pleaded guilty in April, admitting that he filed false tax returns for his clients and pocketed a portion of their money. Cenecharles met with the customers in the office at the barber shop and arranged for a return using the PTIN. He compiled false Schedules C and, in some cases, calculated false education rates to generate fraudulent income.
He charged $200 to $600 to arrange returns and used a third-party bank transfer to direct part of the customers’ funds to himself. The amount of fraud is $39,853 in 2019 and $25,854 in 2020.
Cenecharles also received “thousands of dollars” in tax preparation fees that he failed to report, and did not report the correct amounts on his 2019 and 2020 personal income tax returns.
During the sentencing hearing in Fort Myers, Cenecharles’ sister, attorney Hilda Cenecharles of Ave Maria, who owns the barbershop, argued that customers knew about and participated in the scam by negotiating and agreeing to it.
She said, immediately her brother stopped preparing tax documents after investigation and did not prepare anything including his own.
She denied that he had prepared his own taxes in 2021, when the government discovered a tax underpayment of more than $14,000. She also argued that nearly $600,000 in tax returns should not be considered because they fall outside the rules. She noted that the money was returned to the government, said only 17 of the nearly 500 he arranged involved fraud, and disputed the identification of the customers as victims.
Cenecharles apologized to the court, saying that there is no excuse for what he did.
Friends and relatives cried and asked the judge to be lenient, because of his service to the community. Hilda Cenecharles also said she is working with the IRS to set up a payment plan.
Peoria, Illinois: A Lindenhurst man who ran a Peoria liquor store has been sentenced to five years in prison for tax evasion and trying to defraud the federal government by withholding millions in sales tax.
Jalal Nimar Asad, 61, was convicted in September of nearly two dozen charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and to violate tax laws, conspiracy to arrange financial transactions to avoid reporting requirements and tax evasion.
Asad was sentenced to 60 months on each of the 20 counts, and was ordered to pay $1.08 million in restitution to the IRS, and he filed for $4.3 million in restitution, which is roughly the amount involved.
This latest case focuses on events that took place two decades ago, from early 2001 to 2008. But before the charges were announced in 2009, Asad left the country for the territory administered by the Palestinian Authority.
He returned to the United States in October 2023 and was arrested. From there, the trial started again.
While he was gone, Asad’s brother and four others were sentenced to prison. All of them have already been released.
Asad and the others conspired to conceal sales tax from sales at stores in Decatur and at a Super Saver in Peoria. The Peoria case focuses on how Asad and his brother arranged to withdraw approximately $4.3 million from Peoria banks over a four-year period.
Two separate revenue books are kept – one that actually accounts for sales and one that doesn’t. The fake book allows them to report their sales and avoid paying more taxes.
Asad, who is incarcerated, will voluntarily surrender to federal prison officials in September.
