A Florida man has pleaded guilty in federal court to filing a false tax return as part of a multimillion-dollar tax refund fraud scheme involving purported trusts he controlled.
According to court documents and statements made in court, McDonald Preval, of Miami, filed numerous false tax returns on behalf of himself and several purported trusts. The trust returns falsely claimed that the trusts had earned significant income and made large tax withholding payments to the IRS, creating the appearance that the trusts were entitled to substantial tax refunds.
In reality, the trusts did not earn the income reported on the returns and did not make the claimed withholding payments. As a result, the trusts were not entitled to the refunds Preval sought.
Prosecutors also stated that Preval filed personal tax returns for 2023 that failed to report income from his employment. In total, the false returns filed by Preval and on behalf of the purported trusts sought more than $4.2 million in fraudulent tax refunds.
Preval pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false tax return. He is scheduled to be sentenced on October 6 and faces a maximum penalty of three years in federal prison. He may also face supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties.
A federal district court judge will determine the final sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory sentencing factors.