More than 2 dozen arrested for cheating Uncle Sam

From 1010WINS:

A record number of tax preparers were charged Thursday with filing 35,000 suspected fraudulent returns that cost the government tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue, a prosecutor announced as he warned against cheating on taxes.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said "Operation Brass Tax" was designed to be large to add punch to his message for people to pay their taxes. The filing deadline is April 15.

The 26 tax preparers in Manhattan, the Bronx and New Jersey were charged with submitting tax returns with more than $95 million in deductions, most of which were believed to be fraudulent. The Internal Revenue Service had agents pose as customers as part of the crackdown.

Bharara said some of the tax preparers made millions through the fraud, sometimes by submitting returns in the names of dead people or by charging customers to create fake dependents for them.