A Houston-area man is on the hook for allegedly cooking the books on his tax returns to unjustly pocket over a quarter-million dollars. Joseph Patrick Butler is facing federal charges for falsifying tax information that benefited him to the tune of hefty refunds, the U.S. Attorney's Office disclosed.
Butler is prepared to stand before U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter Bray, as his case unfolds with claims that, from 2017 through 2020, he blatantly filed incorrect tax returns. In a bid to significantly magnify his refund, it's alleged that Butler claimed to have earned wages by the hundreds of thousands; wages that were by all accounts never paid out by his employers.
The indictment opened by a federal grand jury on April 4, which came to light following Butler's arrest, sets forth that the accused also padded his tax filings with deceptive withholdings reportedly over $100,000 annually. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office announcement, these fabrications enabled Butler to wrongly receive inflated tax refunds spanning tax years 2013 to 2020.
The alleged tax schemer's actions, if proven true, could land him behind bars for up to three years for each count of the four-count indictment. Furthermore, Butler could be hit with fines going as high as $250,000 per count, which goes to show that trying to cheat the system might end up costing significantly more than just paying one's fair share.
The investigation leading to the charges was spearheaded by the IRS Criminal Investigation unit, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brad Gray and Shirin Hakimzadeh spearheading the government’s case against Butler. His initial court appearance is set, signaling the commencement of a legal battle against a man who allegedly sought to unjustly enrich himself, only to find himself ensnared by his own deceptive practices.
