Top TV and founder of Starbrite Barney Mpariwa is a wanted fugitive in the USA where he was based for a number of year before returning to Zimbabwe.
Below are the details of the case against him:
A Dallas-area tax return preparer who was indicted in 2007 on federal felony charges stemming from the operation of that business and who remained a fugitive until November 2013, was sentenced yesterday. U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle sentenced Ousmane Sow, who pleaded guilty in April 2014 to one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a fraudulent tax return, to 30 months in federal prison. U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas made the announcement today.
According to the factual resume filed in the case, from 2003 to 2005, Sow and co-defendant Tichafara Mpariwa provided tax preparation services through a business they jointly owned and operated under the name of DSL Tax Services, LLC, located on Forest Lane in Dallas. In 2004, Sow opened a second location of DSL on Airport Freeway in Irving, Texas. Both Sow and Mpariwa were the electronic return originators at the Dallas and Irving office locations of DSL.
From 2003 to 2005, according to the factual resume, Sow knowingly prepared, and caused to be filed, U.S. individual tax returns, along with supporting schedules and forms, which contained materially false credits and deductions to fraudulently increase the taxpayer clients’ refunds. This included the use of false business expenses and the use of false education expenses to create a false education credit, thus increasing the taxpayer client’s refund.
Sow voluntarily returned to the U.S to face charges after contacting Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) from Burundi about returning. Defendant Mpariwa remains a fugitive.
IRS-CI led the investigation and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security assisted in securing Sow’s return to the U.S.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Stokes prosecuted.
