According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, between 2015 and 2018, Yolonda Thompson, also known as Qhama Al, and Albert Upshur, also known as Kelinde Jaha, attempted to obtain millions of dollars for themselves and other participants in a fraudulent debt-relief scheme. As part of the scheme, which they named the Debt Payoff Program, Thompson and Upshur formed the Yolonda Denise Thompson Living Trust. Participants in the Debt Payoff Program were told that if they paid money to Upshur and filed tax returns and other documents that Thompson prepared for them, they could access funds from the trust to pay off their mortgages and other debts. In reality, the tax returns that Thompson prepared and that participants filed with the IRS fraudulently claimed income tax refunds that the scheme participants were not entitled to receive. The false tax returns introduced into evidence at trial collectively sought tax refunds of more than $300 million.
