The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee on Wednesday reported that three tax fraudsters had entered guilty pleas in cases involving a total of $37 million. The three cases reported in West Tennessee are part of over $490 million in tax fraud discovered across the country through the crackdown launched in April by President Donald Trump and led by Vice President JD Vance.
All three of the West Tennessee cases profiled by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) occurred in Memphis. The latest guilty plea came in the case against Lynette Hogue, a 45-year-old Memphis woman, who the DOJ said admitted her guilt on Tuesday to preparing false and fraudulent income tax returns ad failing to file her own tax returns.
Hogue filed the false tax returns through the tax preparation company where she worked, resulting in a $4.1 million loss to the IRS, according to the DOJ. She faces up to four years in prison, and is scheduled to face sentencing in January.
Less than a week earlier, Rebecca Gilley was sentenced to 30 months in prison and to pay $289,908 in restitution on October 8. The DOJ said Gilley filed more than 1,000 tax returns seeking more than $9.25 million in fraudulent sick and family leave credits, ultimately causing a loss of more than $350,000 to the IRS.
Frank Jason Cole also pleaded guilty last month, admitting to wire fraud for preparing false tax returns. According to the DOJ, he requested more than $24 million combined in false refunds for a total of 52 individuals, and $19 million was paid out. He faces up to 20 years in prison at his sentencing in January.
U.S. Attorney Michael Dunavant stated, “Income tax fraud schemes strike at the very heart of our federal government’s financial ability to provide services and protection for our citizens, and we will use all available resources to punish and deter such dishonest criminal behavior.”
Dunavant added that the sentences imposed by courts, “send a clear message: there will always be a consequence, a reckoning, for stealing from the American taxpayer.”
The prosecutor’s office also said that the prosecutions were part of the National Fraud Enforcement Division of the DOJ, which was created in April was part of Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud.
According to the Fraud Ledger maintained by the White House, the task force has identified more than $260 billion in fraud since it was founded. As a result of its findings, Vance reported that the administration has halted $72 billion in annual spending, and reached legal settlements or filed indictments to recover almost $59 billion.
The cases reported by Dunavant’s office this week follow those profiled in March, which included a Mississippi woman who operated a Tennessee tax preparation business, and in March pleaded guilty to her role in an $80 million federal pandemic relief fraud scheme.
Weeks later, the DOJ announced that Memphis tax preparer Selma Brinson was indicted for allegedly using her business to “report false items on clients’ tax returns to generated inflated tax refunds.” She was also accused of tampering with witnesses and attempting to evade the IRS.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
