LIBERTY TAX SERVICE Franchise Complaints

5,730 thoughts on “LIBERTY TAX SERVICE Franchise Complaints”

• Liberty Taxes problems are continuing to grow:

  http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/Liberty-Tax-Discloses-Resignation-of-Independent-Accounting-Firm-1010936572

  Liberty Tax Discloses Resignation of Independent Accounting Firm

  PRESS RELEASE GlobeNewswire
  Dec. 11, 2017, 07:30 AM

  VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Dec. 11, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Liberty Tax, Inc. (NASDAQ:TAX) (the “Company”) today disclosed in its Current Report on Form 8-K that KPMG LLP (“KPMG”) has resigned as the Company’s independent accounting firm and that the Company will delay the filing of its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended October 31, 2017.  As detailed in the Form 8-K, there are no disagreements with KPMG on any matter of accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure, or auditing scope or procedure. Additional information regarding KPMG’s resignation can be found in the Form 8-K.  The Company has begun the process of selecting a new independent accounting firm.
  As disclosed in the Company’s Form 8-K, KPMG’s resignation is due to concerns around internal controls over financial reporting as it relates to the integrity and tone at the top set by Liberty’s founder, current Chairman and former Chief Executive Officer, John Hewitt. 
  Ross Longfield, Chairman of the Company’s Audit Committee stated, “We are disappointed that KPMG has resigned, however, we appreciate the long term relationship we have had with them.  The Company will work as quickly as possible to engage a new accounting firm and to complete their review of our second quarter results.”
  Hewitt was terminated on September 5, 2017.  The Audit Committee has high confidence in the existing management team and is confident that the management team will help to lead the Company through the resolution of the accounting concerns.
  The resignation of KPMG does not impact the normal course of operations of the Company.  Liberty management, employees and franchisees are focused on preparations for the upcoming tax season.

• NCHillbilly, thanks for the post! I was just about to do it myself. When an accounting firm as prestigious and large as KPMG withdraws from an engagement, there is something definitely wrong with their client. You don’ give up revenue flow from a listed SEC company lightly unless there are some very serious concerns. I wonder now if the DOJ will finally wake up and investigate Hewitt and Liberty? The IRS does not seem likely that they will. I think there is going to be some more serious stuff coming down the road.

• This may have an lasting impact on Liberty Corporate’s line of credit. Lenders become pretty nervous when there are not acceptable accounting practices being used.

• The resignation of KPMG now makes it obvious that the recent resignation of the CFO was indeed a big deal. Something was going on that made an early exit necessary. “Out” has been bringing up the point that franchising in general is good only for the franchisor, not the franchisee. Liberty will be a case study in the annals of franchising history.

  A potent point is that your franchise is only as good as the franchise itself. When the brand itself is sullied, you could run the best outfit in the group and still be dragged down. I remember being in a food court after a food poisoning outbreak at Taco Bell. I was a few thousand miles away from where the outbreak occurred, but there was not a soul in line at that store. By the same token, when the state of MD stopped accepting electronic returns from dozens of Liberty franchisees, I’m sure the ones who ran tight ships suffered even though they did everything right. (Still wish we could hear from some of them about their experiences then.) Something is obviously amiss with Liberty’s financials, and if lenders won’t loan franchisees all across the country will be unable to compete through no fault of their own. Something to think about before entering any franchise–the future is out of your control.

• TexasTee,
  There is a current grand jury investigation into John Hewitt and Liberty taking place in Downtown Los Angeles. I know this because I’ve heard it through the grapevine that after the IRS raid in Los Angeles and Orange County back in spring 2016, IRS investigators began interviewing employees that summer, and multiple subpoenas to testify were given out.

• Don’t forget there are thousands of franchisees in the system. There is value in the company because of it. Some investment group would buy it at a reduced price.
  Fortunately its close enough to tax season to get through without loans if something happened.
  The impact of the confusion will probably happen mid to next year. By then we will know what to expect from tax reform. A smart franchisee has a back up plan. In my state we’ve had multiple companies try to be a franchise and fail after about 2 to 3 years. Nobody remembers them.
  HR Block, Jackson Hewitt , Liberty are the biggest because of the people who own the stores. It will get sorted out, but it’s not going to be pretty. The results probably suck, that’s probably why the accountants are not happy.

• Lawsuits and investigations are beginning to pile up for the shareholders against Liberty Tax Corporate. Maybe some law firm should now look if it is possible now since it has been proven that John Hewitt was fired for favoritism towards certain Zees and employees, indicates that he practiced discrimination against those that he didn’t like or individuals that stood up to him.

  I suspect this should crack Liberty’s protective shell and allow a class action suit on behalf of past and current Zees and area developers. Thousands of Zees have and area developers have lost hundreds of thousands dollars individually to Liberty Corporate for a CEO that used people for personal use.
  John Hewitt destroyed and bankrupt thousands of Zees and area developers, some of the individuals will never be able to recover the money or funds that they lost to highly corrupted individual and the company he created.

• The law suits keep piling up against John Hewitt and Liberty Tax Corp

  https://pilotonline.com/business/stocks/group-of-liberty-tax-shareholders-suing-founder-john-hewitt/article_a4cf2ffb-3aa0-5bd4-8916-6737a9102c1f.html

  Group of Liberty Tax shareholders suing founder John Hewitt
  By Kimberly Pierceall
  The Virginian-Pilot

  A group of Liberty Tax shareholders is suing the company’s founder, chairman and ex-CEO John Hewitt for refusing to give up control after credible evidence of wrongdoing was discovered.
  The board of Virginia Beach-based Liberty Tax fired Hewitt from his chief executive position in September. Since then, Hewitt refused to sell back stock that allows him to pick a majority of the board, and replaced two of his board appointees. Two more independent board members and the company’s chief financial officer also announced their resignations.
  The Asbestos Workers’ Philadelphia Pension Fund filed its derivative complaint in Delaware’s Court of Chancery on Monday, claiming Hewitt “has used his power in a breach of his fiduciary duties to escape consequences for his actions that have done grave harm to the company and continue to do so.”

  Vanessa Szajnoga, Liberty Tax’s general counsel, said the company is aware of the suit but doesn’t comment on pending litigation. A derivative complaint essentially allows shareholders to sue on a company’s behalf when it can’t or won’t do so itself.
  Attempts to reach Hewitt were unsuccessful and a message left with his attorney, John Paris Jr., was not returned.

  The suit details much of what has been reported exclusively by The Virginian-Pilot, including the contents of an internal investigation by an outside law firm that looked into allegations of wrongdoing by Hewitt. That report concluded that there was credible evidence that Hewitt played favorites with franchisees and staff he was rumored to be in relationships with, was overheard having sex in his office, and used company resources for his personal benefit including arranging out-of-town meetings around the New York Yankees’ baseball schedule. The complaint also notes the recent resignation of the company’s internal auditor, KPMG, which cited Hewitt’s continued control as its reason.
  “Even by the standards of the recent deluge of sexual misconduct revelations, the situation at Liberty is shocking,” the suit says.

  The complaint blames Hewitt for driving down the company’s value and costing it money to investigate his misdeeds, as well as signalling “that he will not operate the company for the good of its equity owners, but instead for his own personal enrichment and gratification.”
  The group says it hasn’t gone to the board with its complaint because it would be futile: “A majority of the board is incapable of impartially considering whether to enforce the breaches of fiduciary duty committed by Hewitt because of their relationships with Hewitt.”
  One board member is Hewitt’s sister, another is his longtime best friend and two recent appointees are longtime franchisees, including one still financially indebted to the company.
  The shareholder group wants the court to find Hewitt liable for breaching his fiduciary duty. Any damages awarded would go to the company, not the shareholders.

  Kimberly Pierceall, 757-550-1903, kimberly.pierceall@pilotonline.com.

• Opens the possibility for franchisees to leave without issue. He should just retire if he really cares about the company. All of this is an opportunity for things to get cleaned up. Lawsuits probably just beginning. These shenanigans have killed the equity franchisees had in their stores.

• I don’t believe John will leave because of ego and him being convinced he is the grandfather of tax preparation business. He might if it starts to look hopeless but as long as he believes he can retake control of the company he will fight. He believes he can turn this company from the damages that it has already suffered. It is ironic and fitting that a man who took advantage of the legal system and law, targeting individuals he believed could never afford to challenge Liberty and there abuses even though they were in the right, is now possibly going to be destroyed by lawsuits. But in the end John will maintain a more than comfortable lifestyle unlike so many he intentionally destroyed to build this kingdom that he believed he was absolute King of.

• Although John has a certain degree of teflon that stops a lot from sticking to him, he still has a nasty reputation around him. He was the the one out instructing franchisees how to maximize the EIC by encouraging taxpayer fraud by reporting schedule C Income/Losses. He and his cohorts were the ones teaching various methods of jacking up fees for the unwary. I would hope that now his wagon train has finally wrecked, but he seems to resurrect himself time and again. He is still messing with the Federal government and if the IRS is ineffective, maybe the SEC is.

• Another board member bails today, but this one is maybe even more significant. Steve Ibbotson is a board member _and_ owns 3.1M Liberty shares or 23% of the company.

  https://pilotonline.com/business/liberty-tax-board-exodus-continues-fifth-member-resigns/article_30978db2-2644-57d7-a7f7-b736fb489212.html

• None of this really explains what the board members object to. Opinion: lots of franchisees will just quit after tax season. Just change the sign and move on. They are breaking the franchise agreement. Too much instability. Time for him to retire.

• NASDAQ just sent Liberty Tax notice to cure for not submitting reports in a timely fashion. Likely this is the Last Season for Liberty because the money was already borrowed by John prior to his quasi departure. Liberty will owe mountains of debt after this season. With many Zees pulling out they will have a hard time going to the banks to for borrow hundreds of millions of dollars to finance next seasons expenses. All this combined with these scandals, firings, resignations, pending lawsuits, bad press and lack of communication to the Liberty network, and I almost forgot the lack of an Accounting Firm to review their books! Will it ever end??? Where is the Liberty Leadership?? They are in hiding. Tax Season will be a disaster as an AD assured me with John coming back after Bruno resigns in Mid February (after 1st peak) or he is fired by the Board. The John appointed Board members will re-elect John as long as he’s not it prison for Gambling on the company credit card. Last I checked that’s embezzlement. He will let his EGO be in front of Thousands of employees and Zees he doesn’t get it and will never step aside to the benefit of a host of Franchisees, Board members, Corporate Counsel, Banks, Investors, Friends, Girlfriends, concubines, ex-lovers, ex-wives, Family and yes you Danny! Please urge him to step aside! Urge him to sell his Class B Shares that is our only hope now for Liberty to exist. John, give us a XMAS present and resign your board seat and sell your shares and let go. Or in the words of a Child after watching Frozen: Let it go! Let it Go! Merry Christmas everyone!

• Concerned Zee, although I feel your pain, Screwitt is not going anywhere. He will get his company back. He doesn’t care about what franchisees are going to think or do, he can always get more of them. Liberty is the only thing that he is living for, he is too old to start something new and his reputation is too destroyed to work somewhere else, he will scratch and claw to get back control. I personally hope he gets it back for that is the only way Liberty will be destroyed!!!!!

• Anyone have an idea of what happens when you still have a pnote with liberty and would like to get out? Or any path i can take to get rid of the debt? Bankruptcy?

• Any idea of what happens when a pnote is in effect with liberty and i want to get out?
  Bankruptcy? I want to be freed from the pnote

• Concerned:

  Bk is an option depending on what you owe them, are you still a current zee? If you don’t want to file bk maybe talk to them now that Screwem is out, if he was in likely your only option would be bk, but with things in disarray maybe there are options, they likely want to get back on track I would try talking to them first.

• Any updates

• How does Liberty handle tax pro training? The new tax reform is massive and will change almost everything. Tax pros are going to have to learn a ton of new rules (and unlearn most of what they already know). Few of the tax reform changes will affect 2017 returns, but clients will be anxious to know how they will fare under the law, if they are having enough withheld once the new tables go into effect, etc., so preparers will have to learn enough of the new protocol now to advise people. Will Liberty’s tax projection software be up to the task? Will its training? Next year will be a disaster for any tax prep firm that hasn’t invested in training.

• Most of the complications under the new tax law will be for those of higher earnings, not Liberty’s target market. With the increase in the standard deduction, returns might become a little less complicated in general which would lead to more on line business than someone going to a storefront. This could very well be the last year that Liberty exists in the form we have known. I’ll be at that funeral!

• More NASDAQ news another notice to cure because the Board is NOT independent as required. There are only 3 Board members that have been there for over 90 days Hewitt, His Sister, and his long time best friend. Liberty may be delisted before the first refunds hit. Not even disclosed on Liberty website but it is an 8-k on Nasdaq. Complete Hush Hush by Corporate.

• I passed by a Liberty store today. I saw a male statue of liberty clown smoking whatever and looking like he lives on the street. Some things never change ! What a brilliant marketing ploy: have the homeless bring in the homeless. I wish I thought of that!

• As a tax pro who does superb work I make it a personal habit to have my due diligence, ability to discuss tax law changes (I’ve already began analysing the new tax law) be my key marketing driver as to why clients of all income levels want to work with me.

  I graduated law school and treat my job as if I’m the neighborhood personal banker that everyone knows me by name. I don’t engage in ghetto as guerrilla marketing, instead I hand out my personally made business cards with my IRS and State Tax Pro credentials. None of my clients come away feeling they got served by some illiterate GED holding pion that is is dishonest about fees let alone their own individual competency like most of the Liberties in my area hire to attempt to do the job I do.

• And my literacy gets destroyed by the iPhone.

• Dirty Ducker – Most of left LTS because of the lack of professionalism. They brought in many dregs of society or someone who does not want a personal relationship while doing their taxes. I’m starting my 5th season with out LTS and I’m making the same with two LTS offices, with very little overhead.

  Someone took over one of my offices, because home office said I was the worse franchise they ever had. My office ended up serving the unemployed and homeless people. I still made “money” but had the lowest numbers of my state and region. Well I kicked that location to curb and someone stole it, because I had it up for sale for 8 months or so. They failed for the last 4 tax season. Pawned to someone else, they pretty much are bankrupted. I still did double the tax returns than those other people.

  Both my locations have not been successful, because you have to be a skilled salesman in order to make them work. They don’t work on their own if they are difficult areas.

• So, is there any word on how bad 4th qtr earnings really were? I understand LTS has given up looking for a major accounting firm to ‘bless’ their books and is looking for a small regional firm or a boutique firm. Anyone else heard anything?

• My other big complaint is that I as a tax professional, know more about accounting, taxes, law, and business than 3 of the franchisees I worked for. If you’re just a business person you shouldn’t be allowed to own a franchise.

• Less than 2 weeks and Liberty will be delisted from the Nasdaq. Major technical problems this year despite the slow season. Fee intercept is the one thing unaffected by all the technical problems. Another 400 offices didn’t open this year. Next year look for even more closures. Liberty is hanging by a thread. I’m hoping for an LTS B.K. it will save every Zee tens of thousands in Bank Fees and Royalties

• I just checked out Liberty’s stock price and it’s 9.95. It’s amazing how this company
  was initial viewed by investors as a great investment. Most of these investors are institutional investors and they helped propel the price of this stock upwards despite it’s overall cash flow issues
  and complaints by its franchisees. Now their filing a lawsuit and its based on the following:

  The lawsuit focuses on whether the Company and its executives violated federal securities laws by making false and/or misleading statements and/or failing to disclose that: (1) Liberty’s former Chief Executive Officer, John T. Hewitt, created an inappropriate tone at the top; (2) the inappropriate tone at the top led to ineffective entity level controls over the organization; and (3) as a result, the Company’s statements regarding its business, operations and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.

  What irks me about this is they the investors understand the franchise model and how it exploits
  the franchisees. They know the franchisee is locked into a one sided contract that provides a steady stream of royalties. As long as the company can continue to sell franchises the investors could careless about the ethics of the company. The laws are written in this country to protect the wealth and big business. No wonder people think the system is rigged against the small guy.

  Buyers Beware of All Franchises!!!

• Agree. Liberty Tax has taught me all about how one-sided the relationship is.
  They can’t go up in smoke quick enough for me – better for the Franchisees! They are being picked clean.

• 3 Days to delisting! I’ve received 3 emails and Zero calls from my AD this season same thing for all Zees? They will still collect 19% I could have bought software for about 1k and not be affiliated with this Ponzi scheme. When renewal comes I’m out. Hopefully B.K. will wipe out our Franchise agreement sooner than that. Liberty=Leech Fees, Bank Fees,Check Fees, Processing Fees, $178.50 ESF fees, CIF fees, 12% Interest Fees, Advance Fees, minimum royalties, back office fees, phone appt fees, transfer fees, 10% commission fees, 1k other business fees, 40k Franchise Fees, 14% Royalties 5% Marketing Fees, Training Fees, and I’m sure I left off lots of other fees. Amazing thing is corporate still wonders why no one wants to renew… Ha! Ha! Joke is on the 1500 + Zees and their clients. Liberty is toast!

• hr block charges 25% of sales as royalties, why dont you guys complain about them. 25 higher than 19%, both are crazy high, but its all about profits. i was with liberty up in Canada, same junk there. no one makes any money. recycle zee’s or anyone who wants to work for free. eventually we all walk away. one way or another. I was happy that no AD ever visited me, then one year they did, didnt like what they saw and i was gone, I learned a lot, how to deal with people, low end sure, but thats the market. We are not some high end CPA firm you know. I moved on, doing my own office, same work, more money, and no politics, but honestly , i never did have any politics with LTS, i think i was too small for them to care. but eventually, everyone gets recycled. The other Zee’s and regional only called when there was a problem, LTS was always a bucketshop even our clients knew they were not even on par with HRB. and thats saying a lot. Fold up, churn up, and the new LTS is done.

• To my knowledge H&R Block bought out most of its franchisees years ago and only has a few of the really large ones left (wanted all the profits for themselves). For a while they tried to sell their unprofitable Walmart locations but finally just exited the contract. A big difference from Liberty is that franchisees actually get something of value for the 25%–a good name, for one, and access to great training, backroom support, advertising, etc. Early in the season I actually heard some Liberty ads on the radio, not local ads franchisees paid for themselves but what seemed to be national ads. Maybe this year they actually spent some of those advertising fees on, of all things, advertising. Haven’t heard one lately though, even though it’s the height of filing season. Haven’t seen one on TV, but we record everything so we can zap through the ads.

• Actually HRB still runs about 40% franchise and 60% company. They are still following their pattern of small towns are franchise and metro areas are company. That seems to be a big reason why the average HRB franchise office does about 3 times the returns of the average liberty franchise office. The offices have, in most cases been established for 30-40 years and have a loyal client base. They didn’t shop in out of the blue in the RAL heyday. They were there in the 60s and 70s and had established their reputation.

• Liberty is soon to be a dead entity. The management is still out of touch with their customers in that there is still a push for financial products on their clients. Most franchisees are fed up with the lack of concern by corporate to clean up their image. As usual with Liberty, its about how much money can be bilked out of the franchisees and their customers. The obituary is coming…

• Above stated HRB royalties and company/franchisee mix is off HRB has been buying back franchises steadily for almost 10 years some they flip and most they swallow into company districts. LTS trying not to get delisted waiting until the last minute. Hope is doesn’t work see link. https://pilotonline.com/business/stocks/article_1d7cfde5-ce46-55d9-b65b-118ff45900ca.html Anyone have any numbers on approval rate for liberty loan?

• https://www.cbs58.com/news/four-milwaukee-liberty-tax-preparers-indicted-for-conspiracy-and-fraud

• T. EA
  IT is a pretty accurate figure. While H&R Block has been buying back some franchise offices (when the deal works and several offices are for sale at one time in the same general area to warrant the management expense for Block), they have also been aggressively marketing to existing accounting firms in metro areas and there have been quite a few independents “selling” their business then franchising it back as Block franchisees. There have been a lot of them in the last 3 years.
  The acquisitions by block are offset by the independents converting to franchises. In 2016 it was at 38% franchise, by 2017 it was 39.5% franchise. The last year was actually an increase in franchise ratio.
  The royalty is 30%. A bonus of 20% royalty on any money over the average of your prior 2 years revenue.

• The latest from The Virginian-Pilot:

  Liberty Tax has fired its CEO – in the thick of tax season and after only six months on the job – replacing him with a board member handpicked by founder John T. Hewitt, according to a company statement released late Monday.

  The ousted CEO, Ed Brunot, was a tax industry outsider hired away from a military commissary supplier to be Liberty Tax’s chief operations officer and likely successor to Hewitt. Brunot rose to the top faster than anticipated when the board voted unanimously to fire Hewitt in early September.

  An internal investigation determined Hewitt had likely engaged in multiple romantic relationships with employees and franchisees and given those women preferential treatment, among other complaints.

  Virginia Beach-based Liberty Tax is the third-largest tax prep chain in the country behind H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt. The company processed 1.8 million returns last year.

  Hewitt remained chairman of the nine-member board, with the ability to pick a majority of its members because of controlling shares he refused to sell back. In November, Hewitt ousted two board members with hand-picked replacements, including Nicole Ossenfort, a Liberty Tax franchisee and former executive with the company, who replaced Brunot Monday.

  In an email obtained by The Pilot and purportedly sent from Ossenfort to Liberty staff and franchisees, the new CEO notes that Hewitt will serve in an advisory role and remain chairman of the board.

  Read the full story here:
  https://pilotonline.com/business/stocks/article_aca42b52-4d4e-5a22-88ed-bddaa49a22e0.html

• John Hewitt takes back control of Liberty Tax

  Liberty Tax fires latest CEO mid-tax season, 6 months after firing founder John Hewitt
  By Kimberly Pierceall
  The Virginian-Pilot
  Feb 19, 2018 Updated 26 min ago

  https://pilotonline.com/business/consumer/article_aca42b52-4d4e-5a22-88ed-bddaa49a22e0.html

• From the article: “At the time she was brought onto the board, Ossenfort and her husband, owners of Liberty Tax franchises in South Dakota and Wyoming since 2002, still owed the company $10,932 in royalties, advertising and fees.”

  Even the new CEO couldn’t manage to dig out of the hole after more than 15 years with the business.

• It looks like John placed cronies in as his CEO and COO. On Nasdaq, the stock 17.67%, and the price was $8.40 per share.

• I think the market reacted appropriately to having this group of hand picked clowns in the Executive Suite. I wonder when the de listing is going to happen? As I recall, Ossenfort was one of the ones who pushed the “aggressive” preparation of clients returns to maximize fees. I attended one of these meetings.

• Liberty Tax’s last independent board member resigns, says new executives “not qualified”
  By Kimberly Pierceall
  The Virginian-Pilot
  Feb 21, 2018 Updated 2 hrs ago

  https://pilotonline.com/business/stocks/article_5a395774-068e-5573-b801-abc511e86762.html

  The last remaining independent board member at Liberty Tax, elected by and representing its shareholders, has resigned following three others, saying he too is concerned with the “tone at the top” that led the company’s independent auditor KPMG to resign in December.
  Ross Longfield, a director since 2001, resigned Wednesday, two days after the remaining board, hand-picked and led by founder and ex-CEO John T. Hewitt, voted to fire its CEO and appoint three longtime franchisees to be top executives.

  The board fired Hewitt from his role as CEO in September, but his controlling shares in the Virginia Beach-based company give him control of the board.
  Longfield wrote that the remaining board and new staff has made it “virtually impossible” for the chief financial officer and general counsel to do their jobs, “particularly as these three new executives are not qualified to hold these positions in a public company and they are all beholden to John Hewitt.”

  – Kimberly Pierceall, The Pilot

• And now the General Counsel and CIO are leaving, too

  http://ir.libertytax.com/node/10796/html

• Ucccch, Martha O’Gorman is still there?!?

  IRS:
  DOJ:

  PLEASE!!! Do your job and put that man in jail. He has gotten away with nonsense for years upon years! He is a crook, a sleaze bag, a corrupt criminal, a scam artist and I know he’s being scrutinized by law enforcement & hopefully the feds, but how many years can this continue before he pays for his crimes?

  Kimberly Pierceall: Thank you for writing these news stories. He is sickening and profoundly inept. At the very least he needs to go to jail for years. And pay restitution. And get the f— out of that company once & for all. Kimberly: you should research how many Lawyers are working at the headquarters…..about 5 Lawyers to every one franchisee. This Franchise sucks big time, because of the man that won’t go away.

• Franchisees will leave in droves come spring.

• As I predicted much earlier I never saw the firing of John Hewitt as a permanent thing and never believed for a second he would not fight like hell even to the point of nearly destroying the company to maintain absolute control over Liberty. In Johns mind this is and always will be his company and franchisees, Area Developers, and stockholders are just a means to an end. He honestly does not care about investors or anyone else, his only concern is his ability to rule over Liberty Tax as King.

  This latest round of revelations about his sexual conduct and his misuse of Company finances is only a hint of what he has done throughout the years. If someone in the Press or law enforcement would or could really investigate Liberty Tax Franchise they would learn very quickly it is a true real life Ponzi Scheme and its only objective is to maximize Power, Wealth, and Prestige for John Hewitt! This has been so from its founding and has never changed. From the very beginnings of Liberty Tax, John has implemented strategies designed to use people and their Money then discard them as quickly and efficiently as needed which has produced nightmares and broken families and bankruptcies for a huge number of ADs and Franchisees. Knowing that he could crush anyone that attempted to use the law or the courts to challenge him and his Ponzi Scheme, Very few iof these people realized that they never had a snowball chance in hell to succeed because Johns pan and design was to find a certain type of person that had talent but not a lot of financial resources then use that talent and there desire for success to greatly benefit the Company and himself then destroy them, discard them, then Repeat over and over again. This company has been and will continue to be a true Ponzi scheme as long as John has control.

  John learned his lesson from loosing control of Jackson Hewitt and now he does not have enough time to start over so either he succeeds in taking back full control or the company is destroyed. There will be no middle ground and he will destroy anyone or anything that he believes is against him or is trying to do what is best for the company or investors and who is not completely loyal to him and his desires.

• What also needs to be stated about John Hewitt’s lack of ethics is that he designed a program that has an aim in defrauding the IRS as well as franchisees. He actively had his minions instruct us zee’s on how to manipulate tax returns to make false Earned Income Credits for a target market that is not sophisticated enough to know that this is a fraud. Its shameful that the SEC, IRS or the DOJ fail to do something about him and his company, which are the root causes of these crimes. Instead, these agencies go after the franchisees that can ill afford corporate legal representation and are forced to plead guilty to whatever the prosecutors can come up with. Hewitt and Liberty also provide the information to the IRS for prosecution on the wayward Zees that have challenged him and his lack of business ethics. Please note: the information he provides to the government is the same false data that he taught the franchisee how to create. Somebody must by now realize that he is a crook on the first order. He has created an organization that is not any different than Nazi Germany in that all his deputies have to worship him, the AD’s have to enforce the party line of deceit and fraud, and the franchisee’s are stuck to providing the funds for the corrupt party apparatus. Add to the sexual harassment and other perversions, you got Germany of 1938 created all over again in Virginia. Hewitt and his organization are eventually going to crash and burn, but I wonder how many more people will be destroyed to the end of this process?