October 30, 2017

A St. George, Utah, financial advisor pleaded guilty to his role in selling fraudulent tax-avoidance and investment strategies to his clients, announced the Justice Department’s Tax Division. According to documents and information provided to the court, Henry Brock, pleaded guilty to tax evasion, securities fraud and wire fraud. Brock founded a financial services company in 2009 and served as the president from 2009 through 2017. As President, he marketed and sold a fraudulent tax scheme, called “IRA Exit Strategy,” to potential investors. Brock promised investors that he could provide a way for them to avoid paying taxes on IRA withdrawals, which would otherwise be subject to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) penalties and taxes. To implement his scheme, Brock caused his business to issue tax forms to his clients falsely representing that they were investors in his business who incurred losses, which served to offset the clients’ tax liabilities. As a result, Brock caused clients to file fraudulent income tax returns claiming a total of approximately $3.8 million in bogus business losses and resulting in a tax loss of over $1.1 million. DOJ citizen, who resided in St. Louis, Missouri, was sentenced to 78 months in prison for mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, voter fraud, and re-entering the United States after having been removed. According to documents filed with the court, Kevin Kunlay Williams, a.k.a. Kunlay Sodipo, 56, and others stole public school employees’ IDs from a payroll company and used them to electronically file more than 2,000 fraudulent federal income tax returns seeking more than $12 million in refunds. He also stole several return preparer’s Electronic Filing Identification Numbers (EFINs) and used them to secure tax-related bank products and services that facilitated the issuance of tax refunds, to include blank check stock and debit cards. Williams used the blank stock to print checks funded by the fraudulent refunds and directed some of the refunds onto debit cards. DOJ

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