A federal judge ordered a Buena Park tax preparer to stop assisting anyone in submitting tax returns after it was determined he helped clients claim millions of dollars in bogus refunds, according to the judge’s ruling.

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter told Jose Pineda and his business — ABK Income Tax & Travel in Anaheim — to not help file federal tax returns and other tax-related services, according to the U.S. Dept. of Justice.

Federal authorities alleged in a civil complaint that Pineda and his business filed fraudulent tax returns from 2013 through 2020. The tax preparers would add fictitious or ineligible dependents to get higher tax refunds, officials alleged.

Most of the clients were Spanish-speaking immigrants unaware of the fraud and did not understand what was claimed, authorities said.

The investigators claimed in the complaint that from 2016 through 2020 alone Pineda and the business prepared 22,340 or so federal income tax returns with 89% seeking refunds that totaled $51,899,961.

“Most of which stemmed from fraudulent deductions on those returns,” a U.S. Attorney’s Office statement says.

Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said federal prosecutors could not comment on whether there was a criminal probe into the allegations.

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