Jasmeika Simon Sentenced to Federal Prison for Preparing Hundreds of False Tax Returns

Overview: A Milwaukee Return Preparer Gets a Federal Prison Sentence

On June 16, 2026, U.S. District Judge Brett Ludwig of the Eastern District of Wisconsin sentenced Jasmeika Simon, a Milwaukee-area independent tax preparer, to one year and one day in federal prison for aiding and assisting in the preparation of false and fraudulent tax returns — a federal felony under 26 U.S.C. § 7206(2). Judge Ludwig also ordered Simon to pay more than $250,000 in restitution to the United States Treasury and to serve one year of supervised release following her prison term. The prosecution was announced by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad D. Schimel of the Eastern District of Wisconsin, and the case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation.

Simon's case is a textbook illustration of how IRS-CI builds return preparer fraud prosecutions — methodically, across hundreds of returns, and with an unmistakable goal of deterrence. If you used a tax preparer in the Milwaukee area who inflated your refund, or if you have been contacted by IRS agents in connection with returns filed on your behalf, you need criminal tax defense counsel immediately.

Who Is Jasmeika Simon?

According to court records and statements made in open court, Jasmeika Simon worked as an independent contractor and tax preparer for "Unlimited Taxes and More," a Georgia-based tax preparation company with affiliated preparers operating nationwide. Simon worked for the company between approximately 2022 and 2024, servicing the Milwaukee, Wisconsin market and recruiting clients through word-of-mouth referrals and Facebook advertising.

Simon was not a licensed CPA, Enrolled Agent, or otherwise credentialed tax professional. She prepared tax returns with minimal substantive input from the taxpayers themselves — gathering basic identifying information and then manufacturing the deductions and credits that drove up refund amounts. She charged fees for her services, meaning she personally profited from each fraudulent return she filed. That profit motive — combined with the sheer volume of false returns — is precisely what elevates return preparer misconduct from a civil enforcement matter to a federal criminal investigation.

The Scheme: Over 300 False Returns, Three Years of Fraud

Between 2022 and 2024, Jasmeika Simon submitted more than 300 individual income tax returns to the IRS containing fabricated information specifically designed to inflate clients' refund amounts. The scheme relied on several recurring categories of manufactured tax items:

• Fabricated business expenses: Simon invented or grossly overstated Schedule C business expense deductions for clients who, in many cases, had no legitimate self-employment activity. These deductions reduced taxable income and generated refunds the taxpayers had not earned.
• False Sick and Family Leave Credits: Simon claimed COVID-era Sick and Family Leave Credits for clients who did not qualify — a category of fraud that IRS-CI has aggressively investigated since pandemic-era relief credits became available beginning in 2020.
• False Fuel Tax Credits: Simon claimed the Fuel Tax Credit — a credit reserved for farmers, off-highway commercial operators, and businesses with qualifying fuel use — on returns filed for ordinary Milwaukee-area wage earners who had no legal basis to claim it. The Fuel Tax Credit has become a signature target of IRS-CI's national return preparer fraud enforcement initiative precisely because it is so obviously inapplicable to most taxpayers.
• Fabricated ordinary dividends: Simon manipulated income and dividend figures in additional returns to produce the desired refund outcome.

Each of these was a calculated fraud. Simon was not making innocent mistakes. She was exploiting known weaknesses in IRS automated screening — credits that are less likely to trigger immediate audit flags — and scaling them across hundreds of clients. That pattern is exactly what IRS-CI's sophisticated data analytics tools are designed to detect.

The Criminal Charge: 26 U.S.C. § 7206(2) — Aiding and Assisting

Simon was convicted under 26 U.S.C. § 7206(2), the primary federal statute targeting tax preparers and third parties who facilitate tax fraud. The statute makes it a felony to willfully aid, assist, procure, counsel, or advise in the preparation or presentation of any false or fraudulent federal tax return or other document.

To secure a conviction under § 7206(2), the government must prove three elements beyond a reasonable doubt:

• The defendant aided or assisted in the preparation of a return or other document required by federal tax law;
• The return or document was false or fraudulent as to a material matter — meaning a fact that would be relevant to the IRS's determination of tax liability; and
• The defendant acted willfully — that is, with knowledge that their conduct was unlawful and with intentional disregard of the law.

The willfulness element is what separates a criminal referral from a civil audit. IRS-CI and the Department of Justice do not prosecute honest mistakes, preparation errors, or even aggressive-but-legitimate tax positions. They prosecute deliberate fraud. In Simon's case, the repetition — the same fabricated credits appearing across 300+ returns over three years — was devastating evidence of willfulness. No competent preparer accidentally claims a Fuel Tax Credit for 300 Milwaukee wage earners.

Section 7206(2) carries a maximum penalty of three years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine per count. The statute applies not only to the preparer who filed the returns but can also reach managers, supervisors, and others within a preparation organization who counseled or directed the fraud — including principals of companies like "Unlimited Taxes and More."

The Sentence: What Judge Ludwig Ordered

Judge Ludwig sentenced Simon to one year and one day in federal prison. That specific formulation is not arbitrary. Under Bureau of Prisons regulations, a sentence of one year and one day — rather than exactly twelve months — qualifies the defendant for good-time credit under 18 U.S.C. § 3624(b), reducing the actual time served. It reflects a sentence at the lower end of the applicable Guidelines range, consistent with a first-time offender who has accepted responsibility.

In addition to incarceration, Judge Ludwig ordered:

• $250,000 in restitution payable to the United States Treasury, representing the IRS's calculated tax loss attributable to Simon's fraudulent returns across the scheme;
• One year of supervised release following her prison term, during which Simon will report to a federal probation officer and comply with standard and special conditions — almost certainly including a prohibition on preparing tax returns for compensation.

In announcing the sentence, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad Schimel stated: "Tax fraud steals from all honest Americans who work hard and pay their taxes honestly. This defendant committed tax fraud hundreds of times and rightly received a sentence to the federal penitentiary." Judge Ludwig separately emphasized the seriousness of Simon's conduct, the need for just punishment, and the importance of general deterrence — signaling that courts in the Eastern District of Wisconsin view return preparer fraud as a priority enforcement area.

Badges of Fraud: What IRS-CI Detected

IRS Criminal Investigation does not open return preparer investigations at random. The agency maintains a sophisticated suite of data analytics tools — operating through its Compliance Data Warehouse and national return preparer fraud program — that flag preparers whose returns cluster around statistically anomalous refund patterns. In Simon's case, the investigative red flags would have been substantial:

• Anomalous refund clustering: Returns prepared by Simon produced unusually large refunds relative to reported income. IRS analytics identify preparers in the top statistical outliers of refund generation within their geographic and income cohort.
• Fuel Tax Credit abuse by wage earners: Claims for the Fuel Tax Credit by urban Milwaukee wage earners is an immediate statistical anomaly. The IRS's national compliance data shows this credit appearing as a fraud marker in return preparer schemes nationwide.
• Pandemic credit manipulation: False Sick and Family Leave Credits on 2022–2024 returns for clients with no qualifying self-employment have been one of IRS-CI's stated enforcement priorities since the credits were enacted.
• Minimal client documentation: Simon prepared returns with "minimal input from the taxpayers." When IRS agents or prosecutors interview clients and discover they never told Simon they ran a business — yet their returns show $15,000 in Schedule C expenses — the case against the preparer is essentially made.
• Social media marketing on refund size: Tax preparers who market explicitly or implicitly on the promise of large refunds attract CI scrutiny. That model is statistically associated with fraud-based preparation.

What This Case Teaches: The Defense Window and Where Counsel Changes the Outcome

By the time Jasmeika Simon was sentenced on June 16, 2026, every meaningful intervention point had passed. Criminal tax cases follow a predictable arc — and there are multiple earlier stages where retaining experienced criminal tax defense counsel could have materially changed the outcome.

During the IRS-CI Investigation

IRS-CI investigations typically run for 18 to 36 months before the agency refers the matter to the DOJ Tax Division for prosecution authorization. During that window, the subject may have no idea they are under criminal scrutiny. An attorney retained early — even based on nothing more than a sense that past return preparation was irregular — can assess exposure, counsel the client on document preservation and communications, and potentially position the client for cooperation or a favorable resolution before charges are filed.

Before Speaking to Special Agents

IRS Special Agents are trained criminal investigators. If an agent contacts you in connection with a return preparer investigation — whether you are the subject or a client whose returns are at issue — you have the absolute constitutional right to decline to speak without counsel present. Do not waive it. What to do when an IRS Special Agent visits is not a question with a simple answer, and statements made without counsel routinely result in additional charges or become key evidence at trial.

The Cooperation Window

In multi-party preparer organizations — like the network around "Unlimited Taxes and More" — the government often pursues lower-level participants first, seeking their cooperation against higher-value targets. That cooperation window closes after indictment and narrows dramatically as the case progresses. An attorney retained at the investigation stage can negotiate cooperation terms, sentence recommendation agreements, or even declination in exchange for early and substantial assistance.

Voluntary Disclosure

In some preparer fraud cases, the individual's conduct may also implicate their own personal tax returns. The IRS Voluntary Disclosure Program — available through the IRS voluntary disclosure process — allows individuals who have committed tax violations to come forward proactively, pay what they owe, and potentially avoid criminal prosecution. The program's protections disappear the moment the IRS has already opened a criminal investigation. Timing is everything.

Implications for Taxpayers Who Used Jasmeika Simon

If your tax returns were prepared by Jasmeika Simon between 2022 and 2024, you should take immediate action. As a routine consequence of this prosecution, the IRS will review the returns associated with Simon's fraud scheme. Clients who received inflated refunds based on fabricated credits can expect CP2000 notices, examination letters, or in serious cases — where the IRS believes the client had knowledge of the fraud — a target letter indicating criminal investigation of their own conduct.

Your exposure depends significantly on whether you knew or should have known that your returns were false. An experienced criminal tax attorney can assess your specific situation, advise you on whether your cooperation with the IRS is appropriate, and ensure that your response does not inadvertently create new liability. Do not attempt to handle an IRS inquiry arising from a return preparer fraud prosecution without counsel.

If You Are Under Investigation — Contact Brightside Tax Relief

If you are under investigation by IRS Criminal Investigation, have received a target letter or grand jury subpoena, or have been contacted by federal agents in connection with a tax preparer or your own returns, do not speak to investigators without legal representation. At Brightside Tax Relief, we provide aggressive, confidential criminal tax defense representation for individuals and businesses facing federal criminal tax exposure across the country, including in Wisconsin and the Milwaukee area.

The Jasmeika Simon case is a reminder that IRS-CI has the tools, the time, and the determination to build airtight prosecutions across hundreds of returns and multiple years. The best outcomes in criminal tax cases are achieved early — before the government's case is complete. If you have any reason to believe you are under scrutiny, call Brightside Tax Relief today for a completely confidential consultation with an experienced criminal tax attorney. Your freedom depends on the call you make right now.