Interesting story in the local paper:  150 area residents were bilked out of an average of $100k each by George Fiorini, a financial planner whose clients invested in a "10% Income Plus Plan" that promised them a 10% return each year but actually consisted of unsecured notes in Guardian Investments, a local company.  When the company went bankrupt, the investors were left holding the bag.  The local paper picks up the tax angle of the story:

165 Services LLC, a Tampa-based company, is offering to seek to recoup part of their losses by filing amended tax returns on their behalf. Citing a chapter of the federal tax code that allows fraud victims to lower their tax bills by claiming theft losses, 165 Services is offering to perform the work for a fee assessed only if the IRS grants a refund. "Basically, they’ve overpaid their taxes. They had a loss they didn’t know they had," said Tobias Elsass, a 165 Services representative in Columbus.

165 Services is owned by JK Harris & Co. of North Charleston, S.C. Founded in 1997, JK Harris describes itself a provider of "tax resolution" services. It says it has represented 130,000 taxpayers in dealings with the IRS. State and federal regulators say JK Harris has run afoul of customers, state regulators and the IRS itself….

Norwood retirees Eugene and Darlene Henderson lost $42,556 to Guardian and have received only $59.96 from the settlement of lawsuits filed by Haman and others. Darlene Henderson said she doesn’t know how she will respond to the 165 Services offer. "They’ve called me three or four different times," she said. "He (Elsass) had me look at my tax return for 2002 and told me we would get $4,000-something back." Because so many of the Guardian investors are retirees in lower tax brackets, Elsass said they stand to recover about 10 percent of their loss. With an average loss of about $100,000, Elsass is talking about an average refund of about $10,000. 165 Services charges a fee of 20 percent – but only if the IRS makes a refund. "We’ve not taken a dime from anybody," Elsass said. So far, he said, 48 of the 150 families holding Guardian notes have signed contracts authorizing 165 Services to proceed on their behalf.