Tax fraud

October 27, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC -- Following the release of a Treasury Department Inspector General report detailing fraud related to the first-time homebuyer tax credit, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) introduced legislation (S.1930) to add protections and increase oversight to the program.

“The first-time homebuyer tax credit has proven to be a popular and successful effort that has spurred the housing market and provided tax relief to 1.4 million Americans,” said Senator Casey. “Despite the success of the program, there are significant and troubling issues with its oversight. My legislation would help to fix these problems as we look to extend the tax credit to continue providing economic relief.”    » read more »

Jenkens & Gilchrist Attorneys, BDO Seidman Accountants, and Bankers Charged in Criminal Tax Fraud Related to Tax Shelters Generating Over Seven Billion Dollars of Fraudulent Tax Losses

June 9, 2009 --
An indictment was filed today charging seven individuals -- three former shareholders of the Jenkens & Gilchrist law firm (J&G), the former Chief Executive Officer and a former tax partner from the BDO Seidman accounting firm (BDO), and two former bankers from a foreign bank with headquarters in New York (Bank A) -- with tax fraud conspiracy and related crimes arising out of tax shelters promoted by J&G, BDO, and the bank.    » read more »

May 20, 2009 -- Senator Chuck Grassley today issued the following comment after President Barack Obama signed legislation he authored with Senators Patrick Leahy and Ted Kaufman. The Fraud Enforcement Recovery Act will help protect Americans from fraud as well as recover taxpayers’ money lost to fraud.

The legislation bolsters existing tools and increases resources available to federal investigators and prosecutors to combat fraud. It also includes the most significant update to the federal False Claims Act since 1986 when Grassley authored amendments to the False Claims Act which have helped the government recover more than $22 billion to the United States treasury.

Here is Grassley’s comment.    » read more »

May 4, 2009 -- There is no higher economic priority for President Obama than creating new, well-paying jobs in the United States. Yet today, our tax code actually provides a competitive advantage to companies that invest and create jobs overseas compared to those that invest and create those same jobs in the U.S. In addition, our tax system is rife with opportunities to evade and avoid taxes through offshore tax havens:

* In 2004, the most recent year for which data is available, U.S. multinational corporations paid about $16 billion of U.S. tax on approximately $700 billion of foreign active earnings – an effective U.S. tax rate of about 2.3%.
* A January 2009 GAO report found that of the 100 largest U.S. corporations, 83 have subsidiaries in tax havens.    » read more »

April 13, 2009 -- WASHINGTON - The Department of Justice Tax Division today announced highlights of its work during the past year to defend and enforce the nation’s tax laws.

The Tax Division has assisted the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in tracking down tax cheats who use offshore accounts, combating abusive tax shelters, stopping tax defiers and shutting down tax schemes and scams. During FY 2008, the Tax Division also successfully defended refund suits against the United States representing claims of nearly $803 million, and collected, through affirmative litigation, over $178 million. The Division’s budget in that period was less than $93 million.    » read more »

March 24, 2009 -- WASHINGTON - Edward B. Bartoli, a Clearwater, Fla., resident and former attorney, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Charles R. Norgle of Chicago, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

Bartoli is the last of six defendants to be sentenced after they were convicted of various tax crimes in May 2008. Prior to his conviction, Bartoli was a founder of Aegis and its legal director. Bartoli and his co-defendants were found to have carried out a nearly decade-long scheme to market and sell sham domestic and foreign trusts through the Aegis Company to some 650 wealthy taxpayer clients.    » read more »

Falsely Told Customers He Could Provide a Defense to Criminal Tax Charges

WASHINGTON, FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 2008 – A California-based tax scam promoter, Steven Hempfling, has been permanently barred by a federal court in Fresno, Calif., from selling a tax fraud scheme that falsely claims to give customers a legal defense against criminal prosecutions for income tax evasion, the Justice Department announced today.

In selling the scheme, Hempfling falsely advised customers that the federal income tax is invalid because the 16th Amendment to the Constitution was never ratified. For many years, federal courts have repeatedly held that such claims are legally frivolous and imposed fines and other sanctions against those who continue to assert them.    » read more »

Tax Preparer Allegedly Fabricated Education Credits & Various Deductions to Secure Fraudulent Refunds for Customers

WASHINGTON, FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 2008 – Lilia A. Gomez of Hialeah, Fla., was barred by a federal court today from preparing federal income tax returns for others. Gomez operated tax return preparation businesses under the names Tax Prep Inc., 1 Tax Prep Inc. and TFD Services Inc. Judge Patricia Seitz of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida issued the permanent injunction order against Gomez and her businesses. Gomez consented to the court order.    » read more »

March 5, 2008 -- “Yesterday, the 27 Finance Ministers of the European Union (EU) displayed renewed determination to crack down on tax havens that trade in secrecy and facilitate tax dodging at the expense of honest taxpayers around the world. The Ministers discussed measures to strengthen information exchange, limit secrecy, and increase pressure on countries like Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Singapore that too often help tax dodgers avoid paying their fair share.    » read more »

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2008, WASHINGTON – The United States has sued two attorneys, Allen R. Davison of Overland Park, Kan., and A. Blair Stover Jr. of Platte City, Mo., and Beverly Hills, Calif., to block the men from promoting alleged tax fraud schemes, the Justice Department announced today. The government complaints, filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., allege that the two have helped wealthy customers evade income taxes by devising elaborate tax fraud schemes that use sham corporations.    » read more »

Prepared Federal Income Tax Returns Falsely Showing No Income

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2008, WASHINGTON – A federal court in Dallas has permanently barred Arlington, Texas, businessman Phillip M. Ballard from preparing federal income tax returns for anyone other than himself, the Justice Department announced today. U.S. District Court Judge Jorge A. Solis issued the civil injunction order, which also bars Ballard from representing customers before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).    » read more »

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2008, SALT LAKE CITY – Attorney Dennis B. Evanson of Sandy, Utah, was convicted on tax and fraud charges after a two week jury trial, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. Investment broker Wayne F. DeMeester of Sammamish, Washington was acquitted of all counts.

Evanson, along with his co-conspirators, were indicted in November 2005 for conspiring to defraud the United States and to commit mail fraud and wire fraud. Evanson was also charged with tax evasion and assisting in the filing of false tax returns.    » read more »

10/23/2007 -- WASHINGTON – In response to reports that Blackwater USA – the embattled private security firm providing protection for State Department officials in Iraq and Afghanistan – may have relied on information from the Bush Administration to evade payroll taxes, Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) called on the Small Business Administration (SBA) to explain its potential involvement.    » read more »

October 22, 2007 -- New documents suggest that Blackwater may have engaged in significant tax evasion, failing to withhold and pay millions of dollars in Social Security, Medicare, unemployment, and related taxes, and sought to conceal its conduct from Congress and law enforcement officials.

In a letter to Eric Prince, the Chairman of the Prince Group, which owns Blackwater, House Oversight Committee Chairman Waxman writes:    » read more »

Introduce the False Claims Act Correction Act of 2007

Washington, D.C., Wednesday, September 12, 2007 -- Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) are sponsoring new legislation in response to recent federal court decisions that threaten to limit the scope and applicability of the False Claims Act of 2001 which has recovered $20 billion for the U.S. Treasury that would otherwise be lost to fraud.    » read more »