Florida Man Commits Ultimate Tax Fraud
On April 10, after years of IRS investigations and court cases, Florida attorney Michael Meyer received an eight-year sentence for this long-running scheme, according to a Justice Department press release.
Meyer had pleaded guilty to charges related to his fraudulent tax scheme in January.
Bogus Charities, Cheap Buybacks, Illegal Tax Write-Offs
Meyer advised his clients to claim tax deductions for charitable contributions they never made. After creating several fake charities, he had his clients donate luxury items to these charities using templates from his Ultimate Tax Plan. These clients even got to keep their high-dollar items while writing off their “donations” on their taxes. Eventually, they bought back their items at cutthroat rates.
Meyer pocketed more than $10 million from selling his Ultimate Tax Plan, according to prosecutors. Meyer used those proceeds to build himself a stable of luxury cars, including multiple Lamborghinis, Rolls Royces, and Mercedes Benzes, according to a January IRS statement.
When it came to his other cars, he demonstrated more restraint. He only had one Ferrari and one Bentley.
Continued Fraud
Meyer might have escaped some of the criminal charges if he’d abided by an earlier court order. In 2019, Meyer stipulated to the order, which included demands to stop selling his Ultimate Tax Plan, representing clients to the IRS, and giving legal advice regarding charitable tax write-offs, according to the final judgment in the matter.
Despite signing the judgment and agreeing to the stipulations, Meyer instead created new charities and continued providing wealthy clients the ability to subvert the tax code by pretending to make charitable donations, according to the U.S. Attorney.
Michael L. Meyer is a native of Davie, Florida.
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