An Essex County tax preparer was sentenced to almost five years in prison after pleading guilty to charges he illegally collected $4.49 million in tax refunds, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced Wednesday.
Omar Khater, 33, of Fairfield was sentenced to 57 months in prison and previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the IRS on Jan. 23.
A relative of Khater’s, Walid Khater, 38, of Arizona was named by prosecutors as a conspirator in the case and pleaded guilty to identical charges on May 23, the office said.
“Omar Khater has admitted his role in an elaborate scheme that used stolen personal identifying information and fabricated tax returns to bilk the IRS of millions of dollars,” Sellinger said. “He and a relative submitted tax documents falsely claiming that the taxpayers listed on those documents had earned certain income or won thousands – and in some cases millions – of dollars in gambling and lottery winnings.”
The Khaters were accused of working with others to steal identities and then file phony tax returns to claim bogus tax refunds from the Internal Revenue Service.
The tax returns indicated certain income or thousands of dollars in lottery and gambling winnings, prosecutors alleged in court documents. In some cases, the Khaters falsely claimed the winnings and then declared tax withholdings that entitled them to refunds from the IRS, authorities said.
The Khaters filed these tax returns using stolen taxpayer information and collected lucrative tax refunds totaling $4.49 million.
Court documents show that one of the identities used to file fraudulent tax returns was a client of Omar Khater’s who was incarcerated from 2016 through 2022.
Khater filed tax returns under the former client’s name in 2018, 2019 and 2020 while he was in prison, claiming earnings of just over $67,000, $1.3 million and $1.5 million respectively, court documents show.
Prosecutors alleged the Khaters used a mailbox at a UPS store in West Orange to receive mail addressed to the former client and opened at least three bank accounts in the person’s name.
“Mr. Khater fully accepts responsibility and deeply regrets his actions,” Omar’s attorney Robert Scrivo said Wednesday. “He is committed to moving forward in a very positive light.”
An attorney for Walid did not immediately return a request for comment.
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Matthew Enuco may be reached at Menuco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow Matt on X
