ST. LOUIS, MO – October 3, 2026 (STL.News) A former downtown St. Louis tax preparer has been sentenced to 56 months in federal prison after a jury convicted her of preparing fraudulent tax returns that generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in improper refunds, federal prosecutors and court records say.
U.S. District Judge Joshua M. Divine sentenced Latasha L. Frison, 39, on Sept. 30 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in St. Louis. The judge also ordered Frison to repay $270,793, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.
Federal court records identify the criminal case as United States v. Latasha L. Frison, No. 4:25-cr-00258-JMD.
The final judgment provides more detail on how the sentence was structured. Frison received 36 months on Counts 2 through 16, with those sentences running concurrently, and an additional 20 months on Count 1 to be served consecutively, for a total of 56 months in prison.
After leaving prison, Frison will serve one year of supervised release. The court also imposed a $1,600 special assessment. Count 17 was dismissed on the government’s motion, according to the federal docket.
A St. Louis Jury convicted Frison on 16 tax counts
Frison owned and operated a tax preparation business in downtown St. Louis under various names, including Taxed Rite.
Her federal trial concluded July 1, when jurors convicted her of 16 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of false and fraudulent tax returns.
Evidence presented at trial showed that the 16 returns involved six taxpayers and covered tax years from 2020 through 2023. Federal authorities said the false information generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in refunds the taxpayers were not entitled to.
Prosecutors described methods that went well beyond simply inflating deductions.
According to a sentencing memorandum cited by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Frison created fictitious businesses and claimed tens of thousands of dollars in nonexistent business expenses on Schedule C forms.
Prosecutors also said she improperly used COVID-19-related family and sick leave tax credits and fabricated claims involving the federal fuel tax credit.
One example cited by prosecutors was particularly striking: A tax return allegedly claimed that a client who worked full time as a liquor store cashier had purchased 40,000 gallons of fuel during a single year.
The allegation appeared in the government’s sentencing memorandum and the Justice Department cited it in announcing Frison’s sentence.
More than 680 tax returns raised red flags from St. Louis
The 16 returns that led to Frison’s criminal convictions represented only part of the activity federal investigators examined.
Trial evidence showed that between 2021 and 2024, Frison filed more than 680 individual income tax returns.
All but two of those returns claimed refunds.
The statistical disparity became even more pronounced when investigators examined refund amounts.
According to evidence described by IRS Criminal Investigation, during one of the years examined, the average refund on returns Frison prepared exceeded $14,000.
By comparison, average refunds nationally and in Missouri and Illinois were approximately $3,400, according to the evidence presented at trial.
Investigators also detected unusually high rates of Schedule C filings, COVID-19 family and sick leave credits, and federal fuel tax credits among returns associated with Frison.
Those patterns helped trigger the federal investigation.
The figures do not establish that all of the more than 680 returns were fraudulent. The criminal jury considered specific returns and convicted Frison on 16 counts. However, federal authorities said the unusual patterns across hundreds of returns were significant enough to draw investigators’ attention.
Clients testified they didn’t know about false information
The case also created problems for taxpayers whose names appeared on the returns.
Numerous clients testified during Frison’s trial that they had not known their tax returns contained false information, according to IRS Criminal Investigation.
Some of the returns included income attributed to small businesses that did not actually exist, authorities said.
IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge William Steenson said after sentencing that tax-preparer fraud harms both the U.S. Treasury and taxpayers whose returns contain false information.
Steenson said the case showed the tax problems fraudulent preparation can create for clients, as well as the government’s financial losses.
Investigation went beyond the 16 convicted returns
Federal authorities continued examining additional tax returns beyond those presented to the jury.
Investigators identified eight additional returns during the criminal investigation that contained similar false information, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Another 37 returns underwent civil IRS audits and were found to contain false information, according to court filings and statements made during Frison’s sentencing.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow also told the court that significant statistical irregularities involving Schedule C filings and tax credits appeared in returns dating to late 2017, when Frison opened her tax preparation business.
Federal prosecutors said the percentage of credits claimed on returns prepared by Frison was unusually high when compared with state and national averages.
Those findings provide context for the scope of the investigation, but they should not be interpreted as criminal findings concerning every return Frison prepared. Her criminal convictions were based on the 16 counts the jury convicted her of.
Prosecutors say Frison collected at least $240,000
Prosecutors also examined how much Frison earned from preparing tax returns.
According to the government’s sentencing memorandum, Frison received at least $240,000 in tax preparation fees over four years.
Federal prosecutors highlighted one client’s experience.
The client owed the IRS more than $20,000 and was initially told that preparing the return would cost $700, according to the sentencing memorandum.
Prosecutors said Frison later falsified the return, producing a refund of about $22,000, and then charged the taxpayer $5,000 to prepare it.
The government’s sentencing memorandum also said Frison spent more than $145,000 at St. Louis-area casinos.
That casino-spending figure was an assertion made by prosecutors in connection with sentencing and was not a separate criminal charge decided by the jury.
Prosecutors accused Frison of lying during trial
Frison testified in her own defense during the federal trial.
After the July 1 verdict, Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Ladendorf told the court that the jury’s verdict indicated it had rejected Frison’s testimony and suggested she had committed perjury, according to the IRS account of the proceedings. Authorities took her into custody after the verdict.
The government’s sentencing memorandum subsequently accused Frison of lying under oath when she blamed clients for false information contained in the returns.
Frison was not separately convicted of perjury in this case, so that assertion reflects the prosecution’s position rather than a separate jury finding.
Federal judge imposes 56-month sentence
Judge Divine ultimately imposed a sentence of four years and eight months in federal prison.
Federal court records confirm that Frison’s 56-month sentence consists of concurrent 36-month terms on Counts 2 through 16 and a consecutive 20-month sentence on Count 1.
The court also imposed one year of supervised release and a $1,600 special assessment.
The sentencing hearing took place Sept. 30 in St. Louis. The court’s daily docket listed the case for sentencing before Divine that morning, and the court entered judgment after the hearing.
Frison lived in Cahokia, Illinois, at the time of the offenses and more recently in Texas, according to federal authorities.
IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Justin Ladendorf and Jonathan Clow prosecuted the case.
Tax preparer fraud can leave clients responsible
The Frison prosecution highlights a broader risk associated with fraudulent tax-return preparation: A taxpayer can face substantial problems with the IRS even when a preparer supplied false information.
In this case, multiple clients testified that they were unaware of false information placed on returns filed on their behalf, according to federal authorities. The government’s investigation nevertheless resulted in civil audits of dozens of additional returns beyond those forming the basis of Frison’s criminal convictions.
The case also illustrates how statistical anomalies across large numbers of tax returns can attract federal scrutiny.
More than 680 individual returns were filed by Frison from 2021 through 2024, according to trial evidence. With only two not claiming refunds — and with average refunds during one year exceeding $14,000 compared with roughly $3,400 nationally and in Missouri and Illinois — investigators identified a pattern substantially different from ordinary filing data.
That investigation ultimately resulted in the 16-count federal conviction and the 56-month prison sentence imposed Sept. 30.
Frison must now serve the federal prison term imposed by Judge Divine, followed by one year of supervised release, and repay $270,793 under the court’s sentence.
Case: United States v. Latasha L. Frison
Case No.: 4:25-cr-00258-JMD
Court: U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
Convictions: 16 counts of aiding and assisting in preparing and presenting false and fraudulent tax returns
Sentence: 56 months in federal prison
Supervised release: One year
Repayment ordered: $270,793
Special assessment: $1,600
Investigating agency: IRS Criminal Investigation
Sources: U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri, IRS Criminal Investigation, and U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
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