Tax attorney accused of lying to IRS in fraud probe

A grand jury has indicted a veteran tax lawyer accused of lying to investigators about a multimillion-dollar scheme that sought fraudulent Internal Revenue Service refunds on behalf of major companies.

The charges against Margaret A. Quick follow a plea deal prosecutors hatched with her former partner Antonia Rios, a certified public accountant who faces a federal prison sentence for obstructing an IRS investigation.

According to Rios' agreement with the U.S. attorney's office, she and Quick fabricated an email during an April 2011 meeting with IRS officials that falsely portrayed how their now-closed Irvine-based accounting firm, Quick Rios & Associates, operated a software program key to a fraud that could have earned them millions of dollars in fees had federal investigators not intervened.

Rios, 53, admitted to the crime in August 2017, and prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence of eight months if she continues to accept responsibility. She's currently out of custody on $5,000 bond and is to be sentenced on Feb. 25 by U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guilford of the Central District. United States v. Rios, 17-CR00128 (C.D. Cal., filed Oct. 3, 2017).

Now Quick faces her own possible prison sentence under an indictment that charges her with two counts of attempting to interfere with the administration of federal tax laws and one count of making false statements to the IRS.

The indictment accuses Quick of ordering the alteration of telephone invoices and other documents related to tax returns she and Rios filed seeking refunds through the IRS' Telephone Excise Tax Refund program. The program compensates for excess phone excise taxes paid between 2003 and 2006, but prosecutors believe Quick and Rios tried to defraud it by inflating refund amounts.

They prepared tax returns for approximately 200 clients, including Fortune 500 companies, that sought $100 million in refunds, which Rios admitted would have netted the firm millions in fees had they been paid.

Quick, 63, is accused of lying to the IRS in 2011 and 2012 then trying to influence a witness' testimony in July.

A licensed attorney in Pennsylvania since 1982, Quick is a former resident of Orange County's Newport Coast area who currently lives in Paradise Valley, Arizona, and has a master of laws degree in taxation.

She did not return a voicemail left on her cellphone Friday.

Quick is represented by Thomas F. Carlucci, a partner at Foley & Lardner LLP in San Francisco.

"We're very disappointed in the government's decision to bring these charges. Ms. Quick has had as an attorney an unblemished record for more than 35 years, and we look forward to proving her innocence and restoring her reputation," Carlucci said.Quick is expected to appear for arraignment early next year, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles E. Pell is prosecuting.

Rios is represented by Craig M. Wilke, a sole practitioner in Fullerton.