A former IRS employee was arrested last week for defrauding the government by filing over $609,000 in false tax returns. The investigation was conducted by the IRS Criminal Investigation Unit in Los Angeles.

According to the criminal complaint filed by the IRS, Pendleton, a former IRS Revenue Officer who owns a tax preparation service called Payless Tax Services in California, along with two assistants, submitted false claims for income tax refunds to the IRS through their business.

The tax scheme, according to the Lawfuel Legal Newswire, entailed "increasing the amount of a tax refund that could be received by a client. The trio would do this by preparing and submitting false documents and making fictitious claims as part of an electronically filed tax return submitted to the IRS. Some of the false claims submitted to the IRS by the co-conspirators included tax returns using fictitious income or dependents to claim the Earned Income Tax Credit as well as returns claiming fabricated educational expenses used in an effort to claim education tax credits. In addition to their work with Payless Tax Services’ clients, both Edwards and Lenard filed personal tax returns claiming fraudulent wages and credits for themselves."

If convicted, Pendleton, Edwards, and Lenard face up to 10 years in federal prison.