What becomes of the brokenhearted; steal thyself; inside job; and other highlights of recent tax cases.
Clermont, Florida: Resident Aaron Aqueron has pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States by promoting a tax fraud to more than 200 individuals in at least 19 states. He also pleaded guilty to attempting to obstruct the IRS.
Aqueron recruited clients by convincing them that their mortgages and other debts entitled them to refunds. He collected tax and financial information from these clients to send to conspirators, who in turn tax prepared returns and other documents to submit to the IRS.
These returns falsely claimed that banks and other financial institutions had withheld large amounts of income taxes from the clients and that the clients were entitled to a refund. The institutions had actually paid no income to or withheld any taxes from the clients.
In total, the returns sought more than $14.6 million in refunds and caused the IRS to actually pay out more than $7.6 million.
Aqueron admitted he and his conspirators received fees from his clients of $10,000 to $15,000 each. He further admitted he did not report on his 2015 individual income tax return the income he received from the scheme; Aqueron personally filed returns on which he fraudulently claimed that he was entitled to refunds. In response to one of these false returns, the IRS issued Aqueron a refund of $193,347.97.
He also admitted that he attempted to obstruct IRS efforts by helping coach clients on…
