A federal jury in Athens, Georgia, convicted a Georgia man today of filing fraudulent tax returns in the name of several trusts.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, between 2016 and 2018, Marquet Mattox, of Lilburn, filed at least 30 fraudulent federal income tax returns in the name of at least 11 different trusts. Those returns falsely represented that the trusts had earned interest income and that federal income taxes had been withheld and paid to the IRS. Mattox then fraudulently requested refunds on behalf of the purported trusts totaling nearly $165 million. The IRS paid approximately $5 million of the requested refunds, which Mattox used to purchase a house, expensive furniture and a luxury automobile.
Mattox will be sentenced at a later date. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the wire fraud counts, five years on the false claims counts, and 10 years on the theft of government funds count. He also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, monetary penalties and forfeiture.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary for the Middle District of Georgia made the announcement.
IRS-Criminal Investigation and the Treasury Department’s Office of the Inspector General investigated the case.
Trial Attorney Jessica A. Kraft of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lyndie M. Freeman of the Middle District of Georgia are prosecuting the case.