Hispanic man arrested in New York for tax fraud of more than $100 million dollars

A Dominican nicknamed “El Mago”, accused of helping to prepare false tax returns that have amounted to a fraud of 100 million dollars in losses for the government, was arrested yesterday in New York.

The Federal Prosecutor’s Office accused Rafael Álvarez, founder of the firm ATAX in 1986, – with offices throughout New York – of conspiracy to defraud the United States.which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

In addition, he is accused of complicity in filing false federal tax returns, attempting to interfere with the administration of internal revenue laws, making false returns and aggravated identity theft, punishable by between two and three years.

Álvarez was arrested precisely on the last day of the deadline to present taxes to the Government.

According to authorities, Álvarez, of Dominican origin and who has been recognized with several awards in New York for his franchise – they called him “The Tax Wizard” – orchestrated a wide-ranging plan to file tens of thousands of federal returns. of individual taxes with false information so that they paid less to the IRS, which generated profits of more than 15 million dollars for his company ATAX between 2016 and 2019.

“Alvarez was so prolific in falsifying his clients’ tax returns that he became known as “the Magician” for his ability to make clients’ tax burdens disappear,” said the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. York, Damian Williams.

According to the accusation, Between 2010 and 2020, the Bronx County ATAX office prepared approximately 90,000 tax returns.

Alvarez, 60, prepared tax returns for his clients and recruited, supervised and directed other ATAX personnel who in turn prepared tax returns for other clients, the indictment states.

He explains that the false information included, among other things, false itemized tax deductions, fabricated capital losses, false business expenses and fraudulent tax credits, which reduced the amount of taxes his clients had to pay while increasing the refund.

According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Álvarez and an employee also lied to an IRS agent.

With information from EFE

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