A tax preparer from Kennedale, Texas, pleaded guilty Monday in Fort Worth to cheating the government out of $2.6 million by filing hundreds of bogus tax returns, federal authorities said.
Anthony Floyd, 51, entered his plea shortly after a jury was seated in what was to be his trial before U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman. Floyd could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison, three for each of 10 counts of aiding in the preparation and presentation of false tax returns.
According to court records, Floyd recruited clients outside big-box stores or through other clients, then rarely saw them again, generally calling or texting when he needed documents from them in order to prepare their tax returns. He submitted the returns without reviewing them with his clients, so they wouldn’t know he was falsifying entries to increase the size of the refunds claimed in their behalf. Floyd would pocket all or most of those ill-gotten refunds, the government said. He was found to have done this in about 400 cases.
Floyd is represented in the case by Vincent Eugene Wisely of Dallas. The attorney did not respond to an email request for comment.
The prosecutors are P.J. Meitl from the U.S. attorney’s office in Dallas, and Mark L. Nichols and Nancy E. Larson from the U.S. attorney’s office in Fort Worth.
The case number is 4:23-CR-177-P