PENSACOLA, Fla. – Wesner Jean-Pierre, 33, of Orlando, Florida, has been sentenced to 26 months in federal prison for preparing false tax returns. The sentence was handed down by Jason R. Coody, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
“The United States and its citizens rely on the payment of taxes to defend our country and maintain its operations,” said U.S. Attorney Coody. “Efforts to steal from hardworking American taxpayers – here by a corrupt tax preparer – will result in swift and significant sanctions.”
Between 2015 and 2019, Jean-Pierre, owner of WJP Financial Services, LLC, a tax preparation business in Pensacola, prepared and filed approximately 1,949 false tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service for various clients. Jean-Pierre falsified the taxpayers’ income, deductions, credits, and refunds to steal funds from the American taxpayers for his own gain.
Jean-Pierre’s prison sentence will be followed by one year of supervised release, and he was ordered to pay $830,840 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
“Clients place special trust in their tax preparers, who have a duty to prepare their clients’ returns accurately and in compliance with the law,” said Ronald A. Loecker, Special Agent in Charge of IRS CI’s Tampa Field Office. “Mr. Jean-Pierre is now paying the price for violating that trust for his own personal gain. This sentencing should serve as a warning to those tax preparers who choose to line their own pockets rather than do what’s best for their clients.”
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