MIAMI — A Port St. Lucie tax preparer was sentenced Feb. 11 to 36 months in federal prison for defrauding taxpayers of more than $175,000 and lying on his application for U.S. citizenship.
U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks sentenced Wislet Metayer, 45, and ordered him to pay $167,792.45 in restitution. A federal jury in West Palm Beach previously found Metayer guilty of 32 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns and one count of making a false statement related to naturalization.
According to court records, Metayer worked as a professional tax preparer from about 2019 through 2025. Prosecutors said he filed dozens of federal income tax returns that included false business losses, deductions and credits without his clients’ knowledge in order to inflate refunds and increase his preparation fees. The scheme caused losses exceeding $175,000 to the U.S. Treasury…