By Alex Rose
Daily Times, Primos, Pa.
(TNS)
May 15 — A Darby accountant pleaded guilty in federal court to a multi-year scheme of assisting clients to file false income tax returns that fraudulently increased their refund amounts.
James J. Sirleaf, 65, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Paul S. Diamond to all 18 counts filed against him in an April 2023 indictment, including 15 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false income tax returns and three counts of filing false personal income tax returns for himself.
Sirleaf was the sole owner and operator of Metro Financial Services Inc., a tax preparation business in Philadelphia where he prepared the false and fraudulent tax forms for clients between 2016 and 2019, according to a release from U.S. Attorney David Metcalf.
“Sirleaf included falsities on the tax returns—including false deductions, fabricated business expenses, and/or false dependent information—resulting in tax calculations lower than what the clients actually owed,” the release stated. “In addition, Sirleaf filed false returns for himself for tax years 2017 through 2019, failing to fully report his income, which resulted in an additional tax loss to the IRS.”
All told, Sirleaf caused the Internal Revenue Service to lose approximately $219,622.
He is scheduled for sentencing Sept. 3 and face a maximum possible term of 54 years in federal prison.
The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eileen Castilla Geiger.
It’s unclear if there are any repercussions on the individual taxpayers who went along with the charade.
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© 2025 Daily Times, Primos, Pa. Visit www.delcotimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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Tags: accountants, Accounting, Income Taxes, tax fraud, Taxes
