Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh has announced that Lovet Ako, of Laurel, was sentenced in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County for willfully filing a false tax return. Ako pleaded guilty on December 4, 2020. Judge William C. Mulford II imposed a sentence of 364 days, all suspended, with a two-year period of probation. As a condition of probation, Judge Mulford ordered Ako to pay $35,551 in fines, interest, and back taxes.
During the tax year 2017, Ako owned and operated Money Back Taxes, a tax preparation business. Ako prepared and filed, for a fee, numerous tax returns for Maryland residents. Ako was not a registered tax preparer as required by law. On his personal tax return, Ako failed to include any income from fees he earned for tax preparation services.
The case was investigated by the Comptroller of Maryland’s Field Enforcement Bureau and the Montgomery County Police Department, and prosecuted by the Fraud and Corruption Unit of the Maryland Attorney General’s Office.
