Date: May 6, 2022 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov PHILADELPHIA — United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced that Guy Menard Charles of Naples, FL, was convicted after trial of 23 counts of fraud and identity theft for filing false federal income tax returns as part of a scheme to fraudulently reduce taxes and inflate the tax refund amounts claimed on tax returns he prepared for his clients. The defendant owned and operated Menard Tax Services in Florida. A co-conspirator, based in Philadelphia, recruited clients for the business and purchased personal identifying information for dependents, which Menard used on a number of the clients' federal tax returns. In addition to the false dependent information, the defendant also included on various returns false income, education credits, and federal fuel tax credits. As a result of the tax returns with false information being filed, the U.S. Treasury issued tax refunds to the taxpayers to which they were not entitled. The defendant and his co-conspirator split the preparation fee for their services. "Our nation's taxing system relies upon tax preparers to apply our tax laws honestly in order to help clients accurately report income and pay their fair share of federal taxes, not bend or ignore the rules," said U.S. Attorney Williams. "The defendant manipulated his clients' tax filings at the expense of honest taxpayers who take seriously their legal obligation to file complete and accurate federal income taxes each year." "Fraudsters like Guy Menard Charles give honest tax return preparers a bad name", said IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Yury Kruty. "Guy Menard Charles had a duty to his clients to prepare tax returns that comply with the law and are complete and accurate. Evidence presented during this trial showed that he failed to do so. The guilty verdict returned by the jury is another reminder that there is no tolerance for such criminal conduct." The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys David Ignall and Christopher Mannion.
