A former tax preparer from Mansfield, who previously entered a guilty plea regarding the fraudulent preparation of tax returns, has been sentenced to nearly five years in federal prison, as announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Chad E. Meacham for the Northern District of Texas.
Festus Adenisimi, aged 65, pleaded guilty in September 2024 to a single count of Conspiracy to Defraud the United States. On March 6, 2025, U.S. Senior District Judge Barbara M. G. Lynn sentenced him to 57 months in federal incarceration and mandated that he pay restitution amounting to $10,283,737.65.
Court records indicate that Adenisimi was the proprietor of FA Tax, a tax preparation firm where he and other employees engaged in the preparation of fraudulent tax returns for clients, leading to unwarranted refunds issued by the IRS. He also confessed to the fraudulent preparation of his own tax returns.
In accordance with the plea agreement, Adenisimi acknowledged that he illicitly secured two Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans totaling $760,415 through the Small Business Administration’s COVID-19 relief initiative. The Court has ordered restitution related to both the tax fraud and the PPP loan fraud.
The investigation was conducted by IRS-Criminal Investigations, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Marty Basu overseeing the prosecution of this case.
