SCHEME RESULTED IN $28 MILLION TAX LOSS
A man was ordered to pay $403,908 and sentenced to 72 months for helping clients receive millions in fraudulent refunds.
A California man was sentenced to 72 months in federal prison for preparing and filing false tax returns, a decade-long scheme that resulted in a tax loss of at least $28 million to the IRS.
Salvador Gonzalez, 44, of Corona, California, was also ordered to pay $403,908 in restitution. Gonzalez pleaded in June to three counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns.
Starting in 2013, Gonzalez operated Grace’s Lighthouse Resource Center, a tax preparation business in Corona. He directed clients to create phony corporations and title their homes, cars, and other assets in the names of these entities. Clients were then referred to an associate who prepared the tax returns for the sham corporations.
Under Gonzalez’s guidance, clients included personal expenses such as mortgage payments, car payments, and utility bills. These expenses were used to fabricate business tax returns, which reported losses that fraudulently reduced clients’ individual income taxes.
Gonzalez further manipulated personal tax returns by fabricating deductions for unreimbursed employee expenses, cash contributions to charity, and medical and dental expenses. Gonzalez charged clients a fee of 1 percent of their gross income.
Arkansas Man Evaded Taxes
He did not file tax returns between 2014 and 2017.
An Arkansas man pleaded guilty to tax evasion.
Ronnie Lyn Drummond, 52, who operated an information technology business serving various governmental entities, failed to file tax returns from 2008 to 2012. When he eventually filed, his returns indicated tax obligations that he did not pay. Between 2014 and 2017, Drummond received gross receipts totaling over $1 million. In an effort to conceal his income, he cashed most of the checks he received. The total tax loss is $177,357.98.
Christopher J. Altemus Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Dallas Field Office, said in a statement: “Every U.S. Citizen has the common duty of paying their fair share of taxes. ”
Drummond was indicted in 2023, on one count of tax evasion and one count of failure to file taxes. The latter count was dismissed as part of his plea agreement. He faces up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine up to $100,000.
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