Date: Oct. 16, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Columbus, OH — A local tax preparer pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to aiding in the preparation of false and fraudulent tax returns. Ali Kasimu Alston, of Columbus, offered his guilty plea during an arraignment today. According to court documents, from at least 2015 through at least 2022, Alston owned and operated a tax return preparation business in Columbus named Overtime Ventures, LLC that did business as Raining Cash Tax Service. Alston admitted to systematically falsifying client tax returns to maximize refunds from the IRS. He filed Schedule Cs with fake businesses to maximize tax credits. For example, one false tax return for calendar year 2021 reported false losses for a home healthcare company that did not exist. The defendant also attempted to bribe one of his former employees with $4,000 in cash to provide false information to law enforcement, which he knew at the time was under investigation. Alston was charged by a bill of information in September 2024. As part of his conviction, he will pay more than $1.2 million in restitution to the IRS. Alston will be sentenced at a future hearing. Aiding in the preparation of a false and fraudulent tax return is a federal crime punishable by up to three years in prison. Congress sets the maximum statutory sentence. Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and Karen Wingerd, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Cincinnati Field Office, announced the guilty plea offered today before Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Norah McCann King. Assistant United States Attorney David J. Twombly is representing the United States in this case. IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
