Georgia
Tax preparer faces prison time, fine for making fraudulent tax returns in Georgia
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A woman from Georgia faces up to 30 years in prison after she recently pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to filing more than $3 million in fraudulent tax returns on behalf of her clients.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Macon, Ga. reported last week that 33-year-old Jessica Crawford pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aiding in the preparation of false income tax returns.
District Judge Tilman “Tripp” Self has scheduled sentencing for March, but beside the prison term she also faces a fine of $1 million.
Crawford operated Crawford Tax Services on Commerce Boulevard, a business area off Atlanta Highway in Athens.
The FBI reported it was investigating a multi-state unemployment benefit scheme during the pandemic when agents discovered text messages between Crawford and a client, who had created a fake business to fraudulently obtain benefits.
Crawford profited by receiving a percentage of the gains, according to the U.S. Attorney. The criminal investigations division of the IRS joined the investigation and an undercover agent met with Crawford to have tax returns filed, according to the report.
Crawford asked the agent, posing as a customer, if he did anything on the side and he responded no, but said he did mow his aunt’s grass sometimes.
The report says “Crawford said that was good enough.”
No income or expense amounts were provided, but she created a “Schedule C business” for landscaping on the customer’s federal income return and filed a fictitious loss of $19,373. On the return, federal agents also noted she filed an earned income tax credit, a child tax credit, and a business income deduction, which called for a fraudulent federal income tax return of $12,359.
As a result, the IRS reported it began a review of 1,261 tax returns filed by Crawford over the tax years of 2020 through 2021.
Those returns show Crawford fraudulently filed tax returns on behalf of clients that resulted in losses to the IRS of more than $3 million, according to the report.
“Jessica Crawford lied and took advantage of funds designed to help those who were truly in need during the pandemic,” FBI Agent Sean Burke of the Atlanta office said in a statement released with the report.
Demetrius Hardeman, the agent in charge of the IRS Criminal Investigations Office in Atlanta, released a statement that Crawford “was an unscrupulous return preparer who allowed greed to cloud her judgment and neglect her responsibilities to help clients prepared and file a true and correct tax return.”
Hardeman encouraged people to choose their tax preparer carefully before tax season begins in January.
The SEC has announced the future Georgia football conference opponents for the 2026 through 2029 seasons.
Georgia will face Florida, South Carolina and Auburn every season. The SEC announced on Friday that the annual opponents will be revisited every four seasons.
Georgia football future SEC opponents, schedule
- 2026: Florida (Atlanta), at South Carolina, Auburn, at Alabama, at Ole Miss, at Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Vanderbilt
- 2027: Florida (Tampa), South Carolina, at Auburn, at Kentucky, at Texas, at Texas A&M, LSU, Mississippi State, Tennessee
- 2028: Florida (Jacksonville), at South Carolina, Auburn, Alabama, Ole Miss, Arkansas, at Oklahoma, at Missouri, at Vanderbilt
- 2029: Florida (Jacksonville), South Carolina, at Auburn, Kentucky, Texas, Texas A&M, at LSU, at Mississippi State, at Tennessee
“it’s hard. I mean, it’s brutal. And everybody’s the same,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said on Tuesday night. “I mean, we all gotta play each other. It’s really tough, highly ranked teams, physical teams. It’s just going to continue to be a grind. I mean, looking forward with the nines coming, it’s going to be scary because you just don’t have enough. Nobody has enough depth.”
Dates for the 2026 schedule will be announced in December, according to the conference. The schedules will be flipped in 2028 and 2029 from the home-road splits in 2026 and 2027.
In its scheduling outline, the SEC made it clear it wants competitively balanced schedules, which will be determined using the entire schedule and not just the annual opponents. Tennessee reportedly will face Alabama, Vanderbilt and Kentucky in each of the next four years. The latter two are not exactly football powerhouses.
According to the SEC, the highest opponent average winning percentage for any school in the 2026-29 schedules is 55.67% while the lowest is 46.65%, a difference of only 9.02%. From 2020 through 2023 — when the league still used the divisional format — the highest winning percentage was 61.32% and the lowest was 39.76%.
In addition to nine conference games, the SEC stipulates that schools face one Power Four in its nonconference scheduling.
Georgia’s game against Georgia Tech satisfies that requirement. Georgia has future nonconference games against Louisville, Florida State, Clemson and Ohio State on its schedule for the time being.
As it stands, Georgia has 13 games scheduled for the 2025 season. The Bulldogs have nonconfernce games against Tennessee State, Western Kentucky, Louisville and Georgia Tech.
“We’re working through that right now, and a lot of that’s going to be determined as we learn when and where our schedule is going to be in the next few weeks,” Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks said. “But that’s something we’re attacking right now to see what our options are going to be in 2026. So we’re going to take it one year at a time right now. The first focus is going to be on 2026 and then 2027 and moving on. So still a lot of work to be done, and I work closely with Coach Smart and Mark Robinson and the league to kind of figure out what is that going to mean for our schedule moving forward.”
Georgia takes on Alabama this week, with the game scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
The grounds for his arrest are still unknown, even to his attorneys.
We’re back for another week of college football action and the slate is loaded, including three games between ranked opponents.
Here’s how to watch in Week 3. Scroll down for live scores, highlights and more.
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Here are the best games this Saturday:
Clemson at Georgia Tech (+3), Noon ET, ESPN: The Tigers are just 3-point favorites ahead of their first road game. It’s a sign that expectations for Clemson have been way off. With Haynes King back, the Yellow Jackets will want to keep it on the ground.
Georgia at Tennessee (+4), 3:30 p.m., ABC: Has Georgia’s offense been good enough ahead of this pivotal SEC game? Saturday is the day to air it out as Tennessee will be without its top two corners again.
South Florida at Miami (-17.5), 4:30 p.m., The CW: The Bulls are the surprise team so far this season. Can they pull off a third straight upset, or will the ‘Canes handle business?
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Florida at LSU (-7), 7:30 p.m., ABC: This game was going to be the day’s marquee matchup before Florida’s loss to USF. A Florida victory would certainly quiet the idea that Billy Napier is on the hot seat.
Texas A&M at Notre Dame (-6.5), 7:30 p.m., NBC: Aggies QB Marcel Reed has thrown for seven TDs so far and A&M’s offense has racked up 953 total yards. The Irish will surely try to get the ball to their star running backs after a subpar opener.
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