Date: August 19, 2021 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Athens, GA — A federal jury convicted a Lilburn, Georgia, man of filing fraudulent tax returns amounting to nearly $165 million in the name of several fake trusts. Marquet Antwain Burgess Mattox, AKA Marquet Antwain Burgess Mattox El, AKA Marquet Burgess Mattox, AKA Asim Ashunta El, AKA Asim El Bey, was found guilty of nine counts of wire fraud, ten counts of false claims against the U.S. Government and one count of theft of government funds by a federal jury on Wednesday, August 18, following a three-day trial that began on Monday, August 16. U.S. District Judge C. Ashley Royal presided over the trial and will sentence Mattox at a later date. Mattox is in custody. Mattox faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on the wire fraud counts, five years on the false claims counts and ten years on the theft of government funds count. Mattox also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, monetary penalties and forfeiture. There is no parole in the federal system. "Mattox brazenly filed enormous fraudulent tax returns on made-up trusts—a criminal act that ultimately amounts to attempted theft, pure and simple," said Acting U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary. "Thanks to the efforts of IRS Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Mattox will now be held accountable for his scheme." "Mattox intentionally manipulated the tax system for personal benefit," said IRS-Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge James E. Dorsey. "The charges and prosecution shows that we do not tolerate those who seek an unfair advantage over hard-working taxpaying citizens. If you come across such tax schemes, including individuals luring others to commit 1099-OID schemes, please help us fight this inequity by reporting it to IRS Criminal Investigation." "TIGTA's statutory mission includes investigating individuals who interfere with the lawful collection of taxes," said J. Russell George, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. "Attempts to interfere with IRS employees engaged in the performance of their official duties will be aggressively pursued. We appreciate the efforts of the U.S. Attorney's Office and IRS Criminal Investigation in working with TIGTA to protect the integrity of Federal tax administration." According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, between 2016 and 2018, Mattox 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. The case was investigated by IRS-CI's Atlanta Division and Office of the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lyndie M. Freeman and Trial Attorney Jessica A. Kraft of the Justice Department's Tax Division are prosecuting the case for the Government.
