East Elmhurst tax preparer convicted on all 14 counts

Felix Cordoba, a 66-year-old East Elmhurst resident, was convicted on all 14 counts by a federal jury in Brooklyn on Oct. 21, 2026, after a three-day trial, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York said. U.S. District Judge Carol Bagley Amon presided. The verdict establishes guilt on the charged counts; sentencing is a separate decision.

The 14 counts and trial evidence i

The tax-preparation business was in East Elmhurst, Queens, where Cordoba lived, according to the office. The case concerned returns for tax years 2020 and 2021. The indictment charged false tax returns and related wire fraud. The office described false claims involving nonexistent children, fictitious solar expenses and fictitious business expenses.

The announcement did not break down which of the 14 counts covered which offense, so the total does not show how many counts involved each type of conduct. Jurors also saw video of a secretly recorded interaction with an undercover IRS agent, the office said. In that interaction, Cordoba supplied an invented child’s name, according to the prosecution’s account.

The loss figure is not a jury finding i

Does the verdict establish losses of more than $24 million? No. Prosecutors said they expected to seek to prove at sentencing that the conduct involved many thousands of false returns and more than $24 million in losses. Those figures are anticipated prosecution claims, not amounts the office attributed to the jury’s findings. The announcement did not identify specific taxpayer clients or assign losses to them.

The office said Cordoba faced up to 20 years in prison and financial penalties. That is potential exposure, not a sentence imposed. In its Oct. 21 announcement, the office said sentencing remained ahead but gave no date.