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Business Crimes Hotline

By ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |
November 28, 2006

ARIZONA

Tax Preparer Sentenced on Charge Related to Bogus Charitable Trust

The Department of Justice has announced that an Arizona man who held himself out as a tax attorney has been convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States on charges related to a bogus charitable remainder trust scam. The defendant told his clients that he could use his experience and connections to get them large tax refunds. He also claimed to have special permission to use a loophole in the tax code to shelter the refund money in a charitable trust for the future benefit of their families. Unbeknownst to his clients, he inflated the charitable contributions and other deductions on the clients' return to increase their refunds. He then diverted a portion of the resulting monies to his own use and that of his girlfriend. He concealed the plan by refusing to show his clients copies of their returns, claiming they were held in a 'blind trust.' The scheme was uncovered when suspicious clients reported him to the IRS. (United States v. Deguzman, 04-cr-01674, D. Az.)

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