Adeseye Y. Afe, age 45, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, was charged with corruptly endeavoring to obstruct the Internal Revenue Code and aiding and abetting the filing of false income tax returns. The indictment, which was returned on June 21, 2006, was unsealed August 2, upon Afe’s arrest.
According to the seven-count Indictment, Afe, a certified public accountant, operated a tax return preparation service, Odua International, Inc., located in Takoma Park. Afe charged his client taxpayers a fee based on the forms he completed. Afe led his clients to believe that certain educational, mileage and other unreimbursed business expenses were expenses that could be claimed as an itemized deduction. To claim such expenses as deductions, Afe would complete supplemental income tax return forms falsely inflating educational and business expenses to permit the client to claim higher credits or deductions than the client was entitled to, or which were not available to the client. As a result, Afe is believed to have filed about one hundred false federal income tax returns and schedules for the tax years 2000 through 2002. By completing and filing the false forms and schedules, Afe could charge an additional fee to the client taxpayers.
Afe faces a maximum sentence of 3 years in prison followed by one year of supervised release on each count. Afe had his initial appearance in U.S. District Court August 2.
An indictment is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the investigative work performed by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, and thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney David I. Salem, who is prosecuting the case.