East Elmhurst Tax Preparer Convicted of Defrauding the Internal Revenue Service

Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Felix Cordoba was convicted on all 14 counts of an indictment charging him with preparing false tax returns containing fictious children, fictitious solar expenses and fictitious business expenses, and related charges of wire fraud. The verdict was returned after a three-day trial before United States District Judge Carol Bagley Amon. When sentenced, Cordoba faces up to 20 years in prison and financial penalties.

Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and Harry T. Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, New York Field Office (IRS-CI New York), announced the verdict.

"The defendant turned his tax preparer office into a fraud machine," stated United States Attorney Nocella. "He added lie after lie into his clients' tax returns, pretending that his clients cared for children that didn't exist, installed solar panels that were never purchased and incurred expenses that were invented out of whole cloth. These false statements caused the IRS to issue unjustified refunds, resulting in large losses to the government. With today's verdict, Cordoba has been held accountable for his conduct and will face the consequences."

"Today's verdict further affirms IRS Criminal Investigation and our law enforcement partners continued resolve to investigate and prosecute those who try to exploit our tax system," stated Special Agent in Charge Chavis. "Criminal tax enforcement is an agency priority and IRS-CI Special Agents will continue to serve the public by investigating criminal violations of the Internal Revenue Code."

The charges in the indictment arise from Cordoba's role as a tax preparer at his business located in East Elmhurst, Queens. As proved at trial, for the tax years 2020 and 2021, Cordoba prepared false and fraudulent Forms 1040 and associated schedules and forms for clients that contained a variety of false claims. The most common false claims involved solar energy expenses and business property sales, which were entirely fictitious and which Cordoba included on his customers' returns. Cordoba also frequently falsely claimed that his customers took care of children that did not exist. For example, the jury saw a video of a secretly recorded interaction between Cordoba and an undercover IRS agent during which Cordoba invented a child out of thin air, turning the Spanish phrase "I don't even know" ("ni sé") into the name of a fake child ("Nize Guzman") when the undercover did not offer a child's name for Cordoba's use.

Based on the fraudulent returns charged in the Indictment, as well as other publicly filed Court documents but which were not specifically addressed at trial, the government expects to prove at sentencing that defendant's conduct resulted in the filing of many thousands of false returns and a loss of more than $24 million to the IRS.

The government's case is being handled by the Office's General Crimes Section. Assistant United States Attorneys William Bristow and Andrew Stamboulidis are in charge of the prosecution with the assistance of Paralegal Specialist Melissa Bennett.

The Defendant:

FELIX CORDOBA
Age: 66
East Elmhurst, Queens

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 26-CR-27 (CBA)