Business & Tech

Downtown Shakopee Tax-Preparer Raided

Mark and Ornella Hammerschmidt, who are connected with the American Group US Inc. in Shakopee, are accused of running a multi-million-dollar income-tax fraud conspiracy, the Star Tribune reports.

IRS criminal investigators say an accounting and immigrant services firm with an office in Shakopee appears to be running a multi-million-dollar income-tax fraud conspiracy, according a report by the Star Tribune.

Search warrants unsealed Tuesday in St. Paul show that federal agents seized dozens of boxes of records and computer equipment from the office of American Group US Inc. in Shakopee and the nearby residence of its married executives, Mark and Ornella Hammerschmidt, the report says.

The Star Tribune further reported that an IRS agent said in a sworn statement that American Group and the Hammerschmidts are suspected of submitting more than 700 tax returns that included dubious claims and expense deductions resulting in more than $2.5 million in refunds.

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According to the American Group US Inc. website, the office in Shakopee is located at 205 Lewis Street with another office in Winter Garden, Florida. 

The site lists Mark Hammerschmidt as a "registered tax preparer with the Department of Treasury" and says he has been an "independent certified tax preparer since 2005."

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It also lists O. Angelina Hammerschmidt on the website and says she began her career as a "foreign attorney," who "earned Attorney at law from the Nor Oriental de Ayacucho in Venezuela."

At the professional networking social media website, Linkedin, a Mark Hammerschmidt is profiled as the owner at American Group II Inc. in Florida.
 


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