WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government says it is trying to shut down more than 125 Jackson Hewitt tax preparation stores in North Carolina and three other states for systematic "tax-fraud schemes."
The Justice Department accuses the franchises of bilking the government out of more than $70 million through fraudulent practices. The government says the stores use phony W-2 forms, bogus deductions and fuel tax credits and false claims regarding the earned income tax credit.
Jackson Hewitt Tax Services is the nation's second largest tax preparer. The suits were filed in federal courts in Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit and Raleigh. They also allege that managers and employees at the Jackson Hewitt franchises took kickbacks for filing fraudulent returns.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Jackson Hewitt
I just saw your consumer watch on the news about Jackson Hewitt. I talked with Grayson Hoffman and, I believe, Steven Murray of the U.S. Department of Justice yesterday for about an hour. I provided information to them relating Jackson Hewitt to the former Cendant Corporation. Jackson Hewitt used to be owned by Cendant before the executives spun it off along with several other wholly owned subsidaries. In case you are unaware (as was the DOJ), Cendant Corporation was known as "the first Enron." Cendant Corporation broke up into several smaller companies last summer in order to get rid of the Cendant name and allow for the smaller companies (under "new management/ownership" yet the majority stockholders are the executives of the former Cendant Corporation) to revert back to criminal activities including money laundering.
If you want the story of your career, do a little research on the former Cendant Corporation and the settlements with the Department of Justice and, I believe, a $3.2 billion settlement with its own stockholders.
The former CFO of Cendant Corporation is currently serving a long prison sentence. However, the CEO and other executives were spared and recently have been under pressure from a major drug cartel to resume money laundering for them.
I would also recommend you research the stock prices, income statements, etc. of the new companies (including Wyndham Worldwide). I think you will find the income of these companies has increased dramatically over the past year.
Jackson Hewitt is small potatoes. And the Jackson Hewitt executives have already provided a scapegoat to protect themselves and the other former Cendant Corporation executives.