Three sisters from McAllen, Texas, have been sentenced for orchestrating a tax fraud scheme that involved preparing and filing fraudulent tax returns with the IRS, as announced by U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.
Maria Lourdes Campos, the owner of Campos Tax Service (CTS), and her sisters Elizabeth and Gloria Romo pleaded guilty on May 2 to charges related to the fraudulent preparation of tax returns. U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton sentenced Campos to 42 months in federal prison and Elizabeth Romo to 36 months. Gloria Romo, who played a smaller role in the operation, received one year of supervised release.
The sisters were also ordered to pay restitution: Campos $151,741, Elizabeth Romo $119,793, and Gloria Romo $9,528. Campos and Elizabeth Romo will serve three years of supervised release following their prison terms.
According to testimony presented at the sentencing, the tax fraud scheme was part of a long-running business model at Campos Tax Service (CTS). Employees at CTS routinely filed inflated tax returns for clients without proper authorization or review, focusing on claiming fraudulent residential energy credits, business expenses, and childcare credits to increase refunds.
The fraudulent filings were submitted between 2018 and 2020, with the firm filing approximately 6,501 tax returns, resulting in over $5 million in false claims for energy credits. The total tax harm from the operation amounted to $3,672,472.
Prosecutors revealed that Campos "used the illegal profits to expand her business across multiple locations and to purchase luxury vehicles, enjoying the financial spoils of the scheme" while perpetuating fraud as a routine practice at CTS.
Lucy Tan, acting Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation's Houston Field Office, emphasized the scale of the fraud. "The Campos and Romo sisters turned their family business into a tax fraud operation, undermining public trust and defrauding the government for millions of dollars," said Tan.
All three sisters were allowed to remain on bond and will voluntarily surrender to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility at a later date.
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