Dallas Attorney and Members of Accounting Firm Charged with Promoting Illegal Tax Shelter

A superseding indictment was returned by a federal grand jury in Dallas today charging a Texas law firm and a few co-conspirators with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, encouraging their consumers file fake tax returns, and conspiracy to defraud the United States, all based mostly on an unlawful tax shelter they promoted and assisted apply. Joseph Garza, of Dallas, was previously charged on Oct. 18. The superseding indictment provides fees versus three tax specialists, Kevin McDonnell, James Richardson and Craig Fenton.

According to the first indictment, from roughly 2012 to 2021 Garza promoted a tax shelter that permitted significant-earnings shoppers to claim fraudulent tax deductions that reduced the taxes they owed to the IRS. Garza and his co-conspirators allegedly directed the shoppers to transfer money into shell providers, then returned this dollars to the clients, untaxed, for their personal use. To conceal the round stream of money, Garza and the co-conspirators allegedly commissioned fictitious small business valuation studies, produced invoices for bogus business enterprise fees, and drafted sham contractual agreements.

The superseding indictment alleges that Garza directed clientele to use hand-picked CPAs and other tax pros, such as McDonnell, Richardson and Fenton. McDonnell and Richardson, both of those CPAs, allegedly owned and operated McDonnell Richardson, P.C., an accounting, tax planning, and lawful companies business positioned in Waxahachie. McDonnell allegedly is also a accredited lawyer. Fenton allegedly was employed as a tax manager at McDonnell Richardson.

McDonnell, Richardson and Fenton allegedly served Garza operate the illegal tax shelter by getting ready and submitting fraudulent tax returns for the large-income consumers and the shell corporations, amid other entities. The scheme allegedly allowed clientele to conceal $1 billion from the IRS and brought on a overall tax decline exceeding $200 million.

McDonnell, Richardson and Fenton will all make their original appearances at a later day before a U.S. Magistrate Judge of the U.S. District Courtroom for the Northern District of Texas. If convicted, all 4 adult men deal with a utmost penalty of 20 a long time in jail for just about every count of wire fraud, 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, a few several years in jail for each and every depend of aiding and aiding in the submitting of phony tax returns, and 5 yrs for conspiracy to defraud the United States. A federal district courtroom choose will establish any sentences immediately after thinking about the U.S. Sentencing Rules and other statutory variables.

Acting Deputy Assistant Legal professional Typical Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Legal professional Chad E. Meacham for the Northern District of Texas made the announcement.

IRS Felony Investigations and the FBI are investigating the scenario.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Renee Hunter, Katherine Miller and Marty Basu and demo attorney Robert A. Kemins of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is just an allegation and all defendants are presumed harmless until eventually demonstrated guilty over and above a fair question in a court of regulation.