Joon H. Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Stuart M. Goldberg, Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, and James D. Robnett, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations (“IRS-CI”), announced that DAMYON SHULER pled guilty today to charges relating to his preparation and filing of federal income tax returns that sought refunds based on the fraudulent claim that the taxpayers were entitled to slave-reparations payments.
Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said: “Damyon Shuler stole from the U.S. Treasury by preparing and filing false tax returns. We thank our partners at the Justice Department’s Tax Division and IRS Criminal Investigations for their work in bringing Shuler’s crimes to light.”
Tax Division Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg said: “Just about a week ago, many Americans did their civic duty and sent off their returns to the IRS, enclosing checks for taxes duly owed. They have the right to expect that those like Damyon Shuler who threaten the integrity of the tax system by preparing fraudulent returns and submitting false refund claims will be fully prosecuted.”
IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge James D. Robnett said: “People who create and promote fraudulent tax schemes against the United States will be held accountable. Today’s guilty plea by Mr. Shuler again emphasizes that IRS-Criminal Investigation will continue their aggressive pursuit of those who would attempt to defraud America’s tax system.”
According to the Indictment and other documents filed in the case, as well as statements made during the plea proceedings:
In January 2011, SHULER prepared a 2010 federal income tax return for a client claiming a bogus refund of $61,300. To generate the fraudulent refund, SHULER reported a fake capital gain of $60,575 and a tax paid on that income in the exact same amount. He also attached to the return a form falsely reporting that a Treasury Department office or program identified as “Overpayment of Taxes Black Investme (sic)” had paid the taxes to the IRS. To conceal that he prepared this return, SHULER did not list himself as the preparer.
In February 2010, SHULER also prepared a 2009 federal income tax return for himself that included a false Form 2439 claiming that taxes had been paid to the IRS on his behalf in the amount of $50,575 and fraudulently claiming a refund of $46,685.
SHULER has agreed to pay restitution to the IRS in the amount of $1,233,130 for this tax scheme.
SHULER, 47, pled guilty to the filing of his own false income tax return and the preparation and filing of a return on behalf of one of his clients. SHULER faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of the two counts to which he pled guilty, and will be sentenced before United States District Judge Nelson S. Román on September 14, 2017, at 9:30 a.m.
Mr. Kim praised the outstanding work of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division. He also thanked the U.S. Department of Justice’s Tax Division for its significant assistance in the prosecution.
