A Minneapolis woman was charged in federal court last week with preparing and filing fraudulent tax returns to receive more than $1 million in refunds.

Lessie Beatrice Lindsey, 36, filed 192 returns and falsely claimed about $1.2 million in tax refunds from 2013 to 2016, according to a criminal complaint charging her with one count of filing a false claim to the United States.

According to that document, the returns included wage information for her clients that she knowingly falsified, seeking refunds using false information.

Lindsey would add fake information to the returns to help her clients qualify for the earned income tax credit, according to prosecutors.

In one case, she filed a tax return for a client seeking a $7,400 refund, saying the client earned $17,145 in household help income in 2014. That return was fake, prosecutors said.

The false returns caused the U.S. Treasury Department to pay nearly $1 million to Lindsey's clients, according to the complaint.

Lindsey will make her first court appearance on June 17.

A phone number for Lindsey could not be found. Her attorney, Bruce Rivers, declined to comment.

Brandon Stahl