Six charged in $177 million tax refund scheme

A federal indictment unsealed Wednesday alleges a Mobile tax preparation service filed thousands of returns claiming $177 million in refunds, with the IRS paying out $81 million of that total.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Mobile named Jennifer Beverly, 47, as the lead defendant. She owns JB Accounting Tax Service LLC on Broad Street and faces charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud. The indictment also names four other employees: Jadasha Bowman, 28; Solida Lucille Green, 36; Paris Lovett, also known as Paris Johnson, 30; and Shermeka Benjamin, 38. Each faces conspiracy and wire fraud charges.

Also charged is Kennedy Lawrence Stovall Winston, 42, a former University of Alabama basketball player who attended Blount High School and worked at the tax service. Winston faces conspiracy and wire fraud counts in this case plus an unrelated federal fraud charge involving stolen Treasury checks. The indictment alleges the group filed more than 9,000 fraudulent returns from about 2021 through 2024, improperly claiming COVID-19 credits, fuel tax credits, credit repayments, estimated tax payments and education credits. The investigation involves the Justice Department's National Fraud Enforcement Division, the IRS and the FBI.

Maisha Horton, acting special agent in charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division's Atlanta Field Office, called the alleged abuse "staggering" in a prepared statement. Christopher Flowers, special agent in charge of the FBI's Mobile Field Office, said the charges reflected cooperation among federal agencies and added that "rebuilding public trust is one of the FBI's core priorities." The Justice Department's National Fraud Enforcement Division, the IRS and the FBI led the investigation.

No court date has been set for the defendants. If convicted, each faces up to 20 years in prison.