WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Orangeburg tax service may be under FBI scrutiny

Orangeburg tax service may be under FBI scrutiny

By Jody Barr - email

SANTEE, SC (WIS) - A Santee business is wrapped up in a federal lawsuit settlement. Some people reported the Gilmore Tax Service charged hundreds of people to file forms.

A federal judge is aware of the tax business, and federal investigators could be on the way to Santee.

"I've heard stories of people saying there's tens of billions of dollars that's going to be given away and that everybody can get in, just come in and fill out a form and that's just not true," said Pete Strom.

Strom, a former U.S. Attorney, is now working to get more than 100 black farmers' cases settled in federal court.

The cases came from the Pigford settlement, a racial discrimination case against the USDA in awarding loans to black farmers across the South. Congress approved another $100 million this summer to settle cases that were left unresolved 10 years ago.

"To be in this case, you would have to be one of the farmers, or one of the family of the farmers that raised your hand during the first case and tried to file a claim," said Strom.

Strom says his law firm got a call from the Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office a few weeks ago to find out if Strom's office had any dealings with William Gilmore.

Gilmore said he was helping folks fill out forms to participate in the Pigford discrimination settlement. Some reported Gilmore charged a $25 fee to help, but Gilmore says he was simply taking donations.
    
Strom says either way, what happened at the tax office could be criminal.

"What we're hearing throughout the state and throughout the Southeast is that some folks are signing people up and charging a fee to do that and that's just wrong because right now, there's no form to be completed," said Strom.

"A lot of people have had conversations with him and explained to him that what he was doing was inappropriate and if he continues to do it, he's starting to cross a big line that he may not want to cross," continued Strom.

Strom sent the federal judge handling the Pigford case a letter last month.

"The judge takes great pride in this case, he handled the first one and he's not going to let people be taken advantage of and I don't know exactly what he'll do, but I expect that there may be an FBI investigation into all this before it's over with," said Strom.

We sent most of Friday in Santee looking for folks who went to Gilmore's tax office last month. We spoke with dozens of people, but no one wanted to go on camera to talk about it.  They did say several hundred people lined up at Gilmore's office last month looking to get in on the deal.

Strom will travel to Washington, DC Tuesday to work out details on how to track down people who are eligible to collect.

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