A federal court in Orlando, Florida, entered a permanent injunction against Yves Demesmin, Unik Tax Refund LLC, and YvesDemesmin LLC, barring them from preparing federal tax returns for others and owning or operating a tax preparation business, the Justice Department today announced.

The court had earlier ordered that the defendants disgorge $1,251,456.54, representing the ill-gotten gains that they received for the preparation of tax returns. Both orders were signed by Judge Gregory A. Presnell of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

The government alleged that the defendants prepared tax returns making false or fraudulent claims for the Earned Income Tax Credit and fuel tax credit, and reporting false business-related income and expenses, farming-related income and expenses, and phony job-related expenses.

Previously, on April 30, 2018, the court barred co-defendants Joseph Demesmin, UJM Tax Services LLC, Elie Dorceus, Loyal Experience Dependable Tax Service LLC, LED Financial Service LLC, Mario Cooper, Dia Fleming, and Dia I. Fleming LLC from preparing federal tax returns for others and owning or operating a tax preparation business. The court also ordered that these defendants disgorge a combined total of $1,137,873.59 of ill-gotten gains that they received for the preparation of tax returns.

Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’s Dirty Dozen Tax Scams and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant. The IRS has information on its website for choosing a return preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers.

In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found on this page. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.