LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Federal prosecutors filed for permanent injunctions Monday, March 17, to shut down tax preparers with storefronts in Koreatown and Reseda who allegedly submitted false returns.
Luis Alberto Mijangos and George Louis Montalvan are named in the lawsuit, which seeks to permanently stop them from preparing or filing federal tax returns, according to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ).
Prosecutors allege Mijangos and Montalvan prepared false tax returns under several business names, including Luismi Services Inc., Luismi Services, Luismi Income Tax Services and CYL Professional Services.
Mijangos and Montalvan allegedly used the business, which has storefronts in Koreatown and Reseda, to perpetuate an unlawful tax scheme in which they filed fraudulent tax returns that reported deductions, credits, exemptions or other tax items for which their customers were not entitled to receive, according to the DOJ.
From 2019 to 2022, the defendants allegedly filed at least 1,800 federal income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The IRS issued tax refunds based on the fabricated tax items, but customers did not receive the refunds, prosecutors said.
Instead, Mijangos and Montalvan allegedly diverted the refunds into bank accounts they owned or controlled. For example, the DOJ said, one customer paid $300 to the defendants to prepare and file her 2019 federal income tax return. The defendants allegedly provided the customer with a copy of a federal income tax return that reported a balance due in the amount of $364. The defendants indicated that version of the return would be filed with the IRS, according to the DOJ.