Abdulkadir Koosaar

Introduction

Abdulkadir Koosaar, a Minnesota man from Pelican Rapids, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service through a scheme that prepared and filed more than 150 false and fraudulent income tax returns for clients — returns inflated with COVID-19-era tax credits the clients were never entitled to claim . The conspiracy, spanning tax years 2020 and 2021, caused a tax loss of more than $750,000 and sought over half a million dollars in fraudulent refunds . Koosaar entered his guilty plea on 12 November 2026 to one count of conspiring to defraud the IRS, an offence carrying a maximum of five years in prison plus supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties .

Background Information

According to court documents and statements made in court, Koosaar conspired with others to defraud the IRS by aiding and assisting the preparation and presentation of the false returns for clients across the 2020 and 2021 tax years . The conspirators, including Koosaar, included COVID-19 related sick and family leave tax credits on the income tax returns that they knew the clients were not entitled to claim — credits that resulted in the returns reporting falsely inflated tax refunds . The scheme sat squarely within the wave of pandemic-relief credit fraud that federal prosecutors have prosecuted intensively since the credits’ creation, and the Justice Department’s announcement positioned the plea as part of its National Fraud Enforcement Division’s work .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted by guilty plea; sentencing pending — up to five years for the IRS conspiracy, with restitution to follow.

Koosaar’s plea, entered in federal court on 12 November 2026, admits his role in the multi-person conspiracy rather than any single return: the charge is conspiring to defraud the IRS, covering his aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of the false returns . The returns were prepared and filed “for clients” — the scheme ran as a service, with the conspirators attaching the pandemic leave credits their clients had no entitlement to . The guilty plea was announced by Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division and US Attorney Daniel N. Rosen for the District of Minnesota .

Public Reaction and Consequences

The announcement put the scheme’s scale in the headline: more than 150 false returns, more than $500,000 in fraudulent tax refunds sought, and a tax loss exceeding $750,000 . Koosaar faces up to five years in prison, a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties at sentencing — a sentence a federal district court judge will determine after considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors . No statement from Koosaar or a defence attorney was reported in the announcement .

Current Status

Koosaar awaits sentencing following his 12 November 2026 guilty plea, with restitution expected to be part of the judgment given the admitted tax loss . His co-conspirators’ cases were not detailed in the release, which charged and resolved only his role in the joint scheme . The plea resolves the charge by admission rather than trial, leaving sentencing as the only remaining proceeding in the case as announced .

Impact on Their Career/Life

Koosaar’s admitted role in the conspiracy converts a small-town tax-preparation practice into a federal felony conviction with a potential five-year prison term and restitution obligation that will follow him after any custody . The case documents the tail end of the pandemic-credit fraud wave: credits created as emergency relief, weaponised through return preparers, and now being resolved in federal plea hearings years after the filings . For Pelican Rapids — a town of under 2,500 people — the case stands as a local example of the nationwide COVID-era fraud enforcement sweep reaching into rural Minnesota .

Sources

• “Minnesota Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Defraud IRS” — Department of Justice / justice.gov, November 2026: source