Chapter 1
Ray, Certified Public Accountant, as Business citizen Of the Year. Jane, wife, and Melissa, daughter is the love of his life. Jane is an Elementary School teacher. Melissa is a leader of the cheerleading Squad. His life is perfect until he meets Johnny.
Johnny is a librarian at a local prison. He needed an investor to establish a tax preparation company. While Johnny had experience as a tax preparer, he had no business knowledge. Ray agreed to be his business partner. They could make thousands of dollars. Johnny opens a bank account Fast Cash Tax Firm. The scam was coming together. Christopher was in prison for credit card fraud.
Johnny wanted to build a friendship of trust with Ray. He worked to sit up the business, hire several tax preparers, and a customer service representative. Johnny would just have to teach them how to prepare basic returns. Ray would handle any complex returns.
Tax season January 2 - April 15 would be a busy time for the business. Ray being involved in the business made it easy to build a large clientele. Ray, as a CPA and an honest citizen, would give Johnny an advantage.
Johnny saw Christopher filling out a tax return for an inmate. He worked part of the year. There’s nothing wrong with it. Inmate Christopher approached Johnny. Do you want more money than you get paid here? I can help you. They will never catch us.
Johnny saw dollar signals. This would be quick cash, and easy money. He could provide the information for Christopher to complete tax returns. They would directly deposit the refund in the bank account. Johnny’s vision was making a lot of money.
Ray worked for years to build an excellent business reputation. In a small town of Cuadrilla, an excellent reputation is scarce. People love to gossip. He did accounting for the church. The business owners of the church trusted him. Word spread that Ray’s accounting firm was the best in town. His firm was the largest in the county. Ray remembered how difficult it was to start his business. He wanted to do the Christian thing and help Johnny. Ray did not know the evil that lay ahead.
Christopher created a fake Form W 2 using the inmates information. He completed tax forms and manipulated the figures to get the maximum refund. Some would be small token refunds. Most of them would have between a thousand and ten thousand dollars each. Johnny filed them electronically. They would deposit the funds into the bank account. Christopher would receive money in his account monthly. They addressed a rejection notice to Ray’s accounting firm. When Ray opened the letter, he wasn’t sure what to do.
