How a Broward man in his 30s launched a $680,000 tax fraud out of his parents’ home
A Lauderdale Lakes man ran a tax preparation business — and a $685,829 tax fraud — out of the home where he still lived with his parents.
Nikency Alexis, now 40, will move to a federal prison after being sentenced earlier this month to three years and nine months of incarceration, three years’ supervised release and $464,006 restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
Alexis pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States, aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of a false tax return and filing a false tax return.
Alexis’ fraud playdate guest, Lauderhill’s Thony Guillaume, pleaded guilty to the latter two charges as one of at least five tax preparers working for Alexis’ Unity Tax and Financial Services. Guillaume got three years, four months in prison followed by three years of supervised release and $221,823 in restitution to the IRS.
Expenses that didn’t exist, friends and relatives who do
Alexis registered Unity with the state in 2010 using the address of his and his parents home in the 3600 block of Northwest 34th Avenue as the principal place of business. His admission of facts with his guilty plea says he began working his scheme in 2011.
In preparing tax returns for Unity’s clients, Alexis and Guillaume claimed business expenses for businesses that didn’t exist and education expenses for the clients who weren’t students.
Eventually, the IRS executed a search warrant at Unity on Tax Day 2016, April 15. With Unity out of business, Alexis started preparing fraudulent returns at Tamarac’s Minimax Tax (State registered officer: “Alexis Nikerline” with the Alexis’ family home address); Eazy Tax and Financial Services, run by Edward Carter out of his Lauderhill home, according to state records; and Fidelity Tax & Accounting, run by Noe Clairvius at a Lauderhill strip mall.
Both Alexis and Guillaume used other people’s identification instead of using their own preparer tax identification number. Alexis’ guilty plea says he paid Carter and Clairvius to use their IRS Electronic Filing Identification Numbers. Guillaume’s guilty plea admits he also paid Clairvius for his filing identification number. Guillaume also kept scheming at F and J Accounting Firms, owned by Fabiola Gustave — Guillaume’s wife.
“Although [Guillaume’s] wife owned F and J, (he) prepared and filed all the tax returns at F and J, but listed the identification of other individuals as the tax preparer instead of using his name and PTIN as the tax preparer.”
This story was originally published March 16, 2022 at 7:44 AM.
