John Castro, a Texas man who fought to keep former President Trump off the ballot, has been arrested on federal tax charges.
“John Anthony Castro was indicted last week on 33 counts of aiding the preparation of false tax returns,” noted The Hill. “Prosecutors claim he ran a virtual tax preparation business that provided customers with tax returns beyond what they were actually owed, defrauding the government.”
In court documents, prosecutors allege Castro would “promise a significantly higher refund than taxpayers could receive from other preparers and on many occasions, offered to split the additional refund with taxpayers.”
“In order to achieve these larger refunds, Castro generated false deductions, that were not based in fact, and which were submitted without the taxpayer’s knowledge,” the prosecutors said.
A police officer reportedly busted Castro in an undercover sting by posing as a customer for his tax services. Castro allegedly promised him a $6,007 tax return while a reputable tax preparer offered him a $373 tax return. Prosecutors claimed that Castro filed tax forms for the undercover officer that totaled nearly $30,000 in fraudulent claims.
Castro, a longshot 2024 GOP presidential candidate, filed as many as 27 legal challenges to Trump being on the ballot in 27 states, citing the 14th Amendment.
“He was indicted on the same day that his ballot challenge in New Hampshire was dismissed. His attempts have also been thrown out in Florida and most recently in Nevada on Tuesday. While multiple 14th Amendment suits remain pending, none have gained significant traction,” noted The Hill.
Castro told the outlet the case against him is politically motivated, adding his firm paid back $700,000 to the IRS in 2021 to resolve any discrepancies.
“I don’t care if they offered me one day probation and a slap on the wrist in exchange for a guilty plea,” he said. “This is going to trial. I am going to convince all 12 jurors that I am 100 percent innocent and that this is political retaliation.”
Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning feature film, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. “Better than Killers of the Flower Moon,” wrote Mark Judge. “You haven’t seen a story like this before,” wrote Christian Toto. A high-quality, ad-free stream can also be purchased on Google Play or Vimeo on Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.
