12 sub-promoters barred in Texas for $30 million methane production scam
February 25th, 2010 - 1:25 am ICT by BNO NewsBEAUMONT, TEXAS (BNO NEWS) – Twelve people were permanently barred from promoting an alleged tax fraud scheme involving bogus income tax credits in Texas, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.
There were 32 people named in total in a civil injunction lawsuit who allegedly helped customers claim more than $30 million in false federal income tax credits.
The scheme perpetrated by residents from Texas and Louisiana was intended for fuel producers from non-conventional sources, as they claimed tax credits based on the supposed recovery and sale of methane from landfills in Puerto Rico, Illinois, New York, Ohio and Connecticut. But according to the complaint, no methane was produced or sold.
Additionally, false business records that registered production and sales were created to make the scam believable.
The scheme was supported through tax preparers who acted as subpromoters that allegedly sold interests in the fictitious methane production facilities to thousands of customers in at least 14 states across the country. They prepared income tax returns for customers claiming tax credits based on the fictitious methane sales.
A federal judge in Beaumont, Texas barred the twelve people, increasing the number to 23 of the 32.
The twelve people barred are Silas Anderson of San Antonio, Texas; Ursa Bookman of Camden, Texas.; Joann Spooner of Port Author, Texas; Carlos Metoyer, of Lake Charles, Louisiana; Cleven Harper, Gloria Toren and Edward Trotty of Lufkin, Texas.; Jacqueline Levias and Jackie E. Mayfield of Orange, Texas; and Yusef A. Muhammed, Denise White and Craig D. Johnson of Beaumont, Texas.
David Berger of Studio City, California; Elizabeth and Louis Powell of Carthage, Texas; and Robert Anderson of Bloomington, Illinois had previously been barred.
The injunction case is still pending against the remaining nine defendants.
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