One of the defendants allegedly fraudulently obtained a 10 million dollar refund from the IRS Date: December 19, 2023 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov A federal grand jury in Greenbelt, Maryland, returned a superseding indictment, unsealed last week, charging a Maryland man and a Texas man with conspiracy to defraud the United States, filing false income tax returns, aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns and theft of government funds. The Maryland man is also separately charged with tax evasion, willful failure to file income tax returns and bank fraud. According to the indictment, Orin Wayne Solomon, of Glenn Dale, Maryland, and Marquis Al Bey, also known as Al Bey or Alvin Hewett, of Forney, Texas, conspired with each other to prepare and file false tax returns on behalf of Solomon and another Maryland-based client of Bey's tax preparation business, Creative Associates Inc. The indictment alleges that Solomon filed at least 15 false income tax returns between 2017 and 2022 on behalf of himself, his marketing business and two purported trusts he controlled. On these returns, Solomon allegedly sought nearly $65 million in refunds that he and his entities were not entitled to receive. After receiving one of the trust tax returns, the IRS allegedly issued a tax refund check for more than $10 million. Solomon allegedly used those funds to pay for cars, a house, silver coins, insurance policies and to pay off the mortgage on his personal residence. Solomon also allegedly transferred approximately $1 million of the fraudulent refund proceeds to Bey, who purchased a house in Texas. The indictment further alleges that Solomon attempted to evade his income tax liabilities for numerous years between 2009 and 2021 by, among other means, using funds from a business bank account to pay personal expenses for himself, his wife and his children, registering a vehicle in the name of a purported trust and transferring his personal residence to another purported trust. The personal expenses that Solomon allegedly paid for from his business account included tuition for his children, personal training sessions, medical and dental expenses and expenses relating to his personal residence and a property that his wife owned. From 2017 through 2021, Solomon also allegedly did not file personal tax returns or pay taxes on income generated by his business, Anjacor Marketing Inc. (Anjacor). The indictment further charges that in 2020, Solomon applied for a loan on behalf of Anjacor under the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), an initiative authorized by Congress to provide financial assistance to businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of that application, Solomon allegedly provided a bank with false information about his company's payroll, fraudulently causing the bank to extend a $229,012 PPP loan. If convicted, Solomon and Bey each face a maximum penalty of five years in prison for conspiracy to defraud the United States, three years in prison for each false tax return count and 10 years in prison for theft of government funds. Solomon also faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison for bank fraud, five years in prison for each count of tax evasion and one year in prison for each of the failure to file charges. Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department's Tax Division made the announcement. IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case. Trial Attorneys Melissa S. Siskind and Jeffrey A. McLellan of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case.
