A man who has filed lawsuits in dozens of states in a vain attempt thus far to knock former President Donald Trump off the primary ballot has now been accused of filing false tax returns for financial gain.
On Wednesday, a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Texas announced that John Anthony Castro has been charged with 33 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of a false and fraudulent return. The allegations stem from Castro’s “virtual tax preparation business,” Castro & Company LLC, which has locations in Washington, D.C., Orlando, and Mansfield, Texas.
According to the allegations, for years, Castro bamboozled prospective clients by, first, giving them estimates of the tax returns that his competitors were likely to get them and then promising to secure a much larger return. Oftentimes, he would convince them to split the larger return with him, the statement claimed.
To achieve those higher returns, Castro “generated false deductions without the taxpayer’s knowledge,” the press release said.
In 2018, an undercover federal agent may have caught Castro red-handed. According to the press release, Castro gave the agent the same spiel about securing a much better return than his rivals could, guessing that they would likely get him about $300, and then passed the agent along to one of his employees. During their conversation, the employee reportedly “did not identify any deductions” for which the agent might qualify, and the agent “denied any facts that would support deductions,” the press release said.
Nevertheless, Castro drew up the agent’s filing, “claiming $29,339 in fraudulent deductions,” the statement said. As a result, the agent supposedly received a $6,007 refund, of which he kept just over half, $3,008. The other $2,999 allegedly went into Castro’s pocket.
These and other alleged false tax returns resulted “in hundreds of thousands of improperly paid claims,” the statement insisted.
“This is precisely the type of conduct IRS Criminal Investigation and our law enforcement partners are committed to deterring,” said Tammy Tomlins of the Newark Field Office. “Today’s indictment sends a clear message, you will be held accountable, if you abuse our tax system for your personal financial gain.”
Castro, 40, appeared in court on Tuesday, though whether he entered a plea is unclear. As each of the 33 counts carries a sentence of up to three years in federal prison, he faces a total of 99 years behind bars if convicted.
Castro unequivocally denied the charges in an interview with Newsweek, calling them “totally bogus.” He also insisted they were politically motivated after his numerous lawsuits to try and remove Trump from the ballot because of supposed “insurrection.”
“We discussed the issue in 2020,” he explained. “It was resolved in 2021. Why wait three more years to issue the indictment? And why impanel the grand jury right when I start taking on Trump? It’s pure and total political retaliation.”
Newsweek noted that the charges against Castro were brought under the Biden administration by a Biden-appointed prosecutor.
Castro, who is running for president as a Republican, has filed lawsuits in almost 30 states, and many of them — including those filed in Arizona, Florida, and Nevada — have already been dismissed. A district court in New Hampshire also rejected Castro’s lawsuit there, ruling that Castro never “provided any evidence suggesting that he has voters or contributors in New Hampshire” or that he would “benefit from voter or contributor defections from Trump to himself.” That decision was later upheld on appeal.
Castro’s campaign website, which appears to have been deactivated, positioned him as a blue-collared conservative who pulled himself up by his bootstraps. “John Anthony was born into a working class family who did not have the means to pay for his college or law school. Against all odds, John Anthony eventually graduated from Georgetown Law, founded his own law firm, started an Ai tech company, and is now ready to offer his leadership to his country as President of the United States,” it said, Law&Crime reported.
Castro did graduate from law school but “is not licensed to practice law in the United States,” according to the indictment. To date, not one of Castro’s lawsuits against the former president has prevailed.
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