U.S. v. Toto-Ngosso, 2011-1 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) P50,155 (4th Cir 2011)
Defendant was convicted by a jury in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Greenbelt, of willfully aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of false income tax returns, in violation of 26 USC 7206 (2 ) . Defendant appealed from his conviction and his 70-month prison sentence.
The Court found that the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting evidence, under 404(b), in the form of testimony from two witnesses concerning his preparation of income tax returns not charged in the indictment. Evidence that defendant had prepared several additional returns containing false deductions and adjustments was highly probative on the issue of whether his preparation of the false returns charged in the indictment was done knowingly or without mistake and thus significantly aided the Government in meeting its burden to show that defendant acted willfully. method for estimating the loss amount was acceptable; the false deductions listed on the returns of the clients who did not testify at trial fit the pattern of the fraudulent conduct established at trial, and the $98,785 loss amount was based on statements made by the clients themselves establishing the falsity of the deductions defendant had claimed on their returns.
The judgment of the district court was affirmed.
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