By Tyler Brown
The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.
(TNS)
Dec. 19 — A Vancouver tax preparer was sentenced Friday to 18 months in federal prison for filing thousands of fraudulent tax returns that caused millions of dollars in losses to the U.S. Treasury.
Keith Altamirano, 52, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Tacoma after pleading guilty to 16 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false and fraudulent tax returns, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Altamirano already was imprisoned when he was sentenced Friday. He was sentenced in early September to 13 years in prison for second-degree attempted murder of his son and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.
Altamirano ran a tax business called Integrity Investments, aka Servicios Latinos. He aided and assisted in preparing false and fraudulent returns between 2017 and 2021, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
A statistical sampling analysis found that false information inserted into customer returns resulted in more than $5 million in tax loss to the federal government, according to the news release.
According to court filings, Altamirano falsified tax returns by listing fabricated medical expenses and charitable donations, fake vehicles for depreciation and expense deductions, and inflated or fabricated business expenses.
Prosecutors said Altamirano concealed the fraud by omitting his name from the filed returns. His clients were unaware their returns had been falsified and believed he was helping them obtain legitimate refunds. Prosecutors said the inflated refunds helped Altamirano grow his business through word-of-mouth referrals.
The news release said prosecutors sought a five-year sentence and that Altamirano’s clients trusted him to maximize their deductions honestly and in accordance with the law.
“His clients were not tax literate, and they chose him as their trusted professional. Altamirano greatly abused this trust and put them at risk by creating fraudulent returns on their behalf,” prosecutors said in the news release. “Many of his clients have been audited and risk penalties and back taxes. His clients believed they were hiring a professional to ensure their taxes were done correctly and many of them have had to deal with the stress of being embroiled in Altamirano’s criminal affairs.”
The tax loss tied to the 16 counts to which Altamirano pleaded guilty totaled $104,518. He was ordered to pay that amount in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service. Chief U.S. District Judge David G. Estudillo also ordered Altamirano to sell one of four properties he owns to help satisfy the restitution.
Altamirano’s federal sentence will run concurrently with the 135-month sentence imposed in Clark County Superior Court for the attempted murder of his son and drug charges.
Photo credit: DNY59/iStock
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© 2025 The Columbian (Vancouver, Wash.). Visit www.columbian.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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