Dekwii Woah-Tee

Introduction

Dekwii Woah-Tee, a 43-year-old tax-return preparer from Rosedale, Maryland, has pleaded guilty in federal court to running a two-front fraud: a tax-refund scheme that illegally sought at least $3.5 million from the IRS through fabricated returns filed out of his tax-preparation business, and a pandemic-era unemployment-insurance scheme that submitted Maryland benefit applications on behalf of victims — often without their knowledge — and pulled in more than $550,000. Woah-Tee pleaded guilty to conspiracy to submit false claims to the IRS, wire-fraud conspiracy, and aggravated identity theft, with the plea announced November 3, 2026. He faces up to 32 years across the counts when sentenced.

Background Information

According to the plea agreement, beginning in January 2018 and continuing until December 2024, Woah-Tee and his co-conspirators defrauded the United States and the Treasury by filing fraudulent Form 1040s seeking tax refunds through false claims. The operation wore the costume of a legitimate business: the conspirators recruited individuals to become customers of their tax-return business and obtained tax documentation and personally identifiable information from people who came to them for return preparation. The prosecution was announced by U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes with IRS Criminal Investigation, the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, and the DHS Office of Inspector General.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Pleaded guilty; sentencing pending. Woah-Tee has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to submit false claims to the IRS, wire-fraud conspiracy in connection with unemployment-insurance claims, and aggravated identity theft. He has not yet been sentenced; the counts described below are his admissions under the plea.

The tax scheme worked by fabrication at every line. Woah-Tee and his co-conspirators used the information obtained from their customers to prepare filings containing fabricated information about dependents, income, education expenses, and eligibility for the Earned Income Tax Credit, then caused the IRS to deposit refunds into bank accounts or deliver Treasury checks to addresses the conspirators controlled. As a result, the plea documents state, the conspirators obtained refunds they were not entitled to in connection with returns illegally seeking at least $3.5 million — customer paperwork turned into a pipeline for fraudulent claims.

The second front ran through the pandemic. Woah-Tee and his co-conspirator Daiwor Woah-Tee — who pleaded guilty to his role in June 2026 — submitted unemployment-insurance applications to the Maryland Department of Labor on behalf of victims, often without the victims’ knowledge, falsely stating that the applicants were entitled to benefits. The Maryland Department of Labor deposited UI benefits into accounts the conspirators controlled, and they withdrew the funds for personal use, receiving benefits in excess of $550,000 in a scheme prosecuted as wire fraud, wire-fraud conspiracy, and aggravated identity theft.

The plea carries a priced accounting. Woah-Tee agreed to restitution of $3.5 million to the Internal Revenue Service and at least $550,000 to the Maryland Department of Labor, plus forfeiture of approximately $250,000. If convicted at the maximums on the counts to which he pleaded, he faces 10 years for the false-claims conspiracy, 20 years for the UI wire-fraud conspiracy, and a mandatory two years for aggravated identity theft. The case was prosecuted under the Trump Administration’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud and the National Fraud Enforcement Division created in April 2026, with the Maryland Strike Force among five DOJ strike forces targeting pandemic-relief fraud.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The plea closes the operations half of a six-year fraud record and leaves only sentencing ahead. The customers whose identities and tax documents fueled the $3.5 million refund claims were, in the UI scheme, also victims twice over — their names submitted for pandemic benefits they never sought. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jared W. Murphy and Matthew P. Phelps prosecuted the case, which was investigated by IRS-CI Washington D.C., DOL-OIG under Inspector General Anthony P. D’Esposito, and DHS-OIG under Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari. No statement from Woah-Tee or an attorney appears in the release, and no sentencing date has been announced.

Current Status

Woah-Tee, 43, has pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing with an agreed restitution exposure of $3.5 million to the IRS, at least $550,000 to Maryland’s Department of Labor, and forfeiture of approximately $250,000. The maximum penalties on his counts total 32 years, including a mandatory two-year term for aggravated identity theft; a federal district judge will determine the actual sentence under the guidelines. His co-conspirator Daiwor Woah-Tee pleaded guilty in June 2026 to connected charges. No sentencing date has been set in the announcement, and no appeal process has begun.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Woah-Tee’s trade was tax preparation — the profession the plea says he weaponized, converting client documents into fabricated returns for six years and pandemic identities into unemployment claims. The admissions leave him a convicted fraudster owing more than $4 million in agreed restitution and forfeiture before a judge sets his prison term, with the aggravated-identity-theft conviction carrying its mandatory two years regardless of the guidelines calculation. At sentencing, the $3.5 million sought from the Treasury and the $550,000 taken from Maryland’s UI system will be the arithmetic of his case — and his preparer career is already over in anything but name.

Sources

• U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Maryland, “Maryland Man Pleads Guilty to Role in Tax and COVID-Fraud Conspiracy,” November 3, 2026. source