Hartford man pleads guilty to tax fraud after officials said he filed over 100 fraudulent tax returns
A Hartford man pleaded guilty this week to tax fraud after filing over 100 fraudulent tax returns, officials said.
Clyde Gibson Jr., 43, waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty Friday before U.S. District Judge Sarah Russell in New Haven to a tax fraud offense, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut.
According to court documents and statements made in court, from at least 2015 and continuing into 2024, Gibson operated as a tax return preparer under the name Build Understand Destroys LLC, and charged clients a fee for the preparation of tax returns. Gibson prepared thousands of federal tax returns, many of which claimed false deductions. In some tax returns Gibson prepared and filed for his clients, he included false Schedules C, which reported that his clients had operated sole proprietorship businesses and had incurred certain expenses and losses when, in fact, they had not operated such businesses and had not incurred the claimed expenses.
Officials said in some returns, Gibson included false Schedules D, which reported that his clients had incurred capital losses, including carryover losses, or bad debts when, in fact, they had not incurred such capital losses and bad debts in the claimed amounts.
During the investigation, Gibson met with an undercover federal agent posing as a customer. The agent provided Gibson with a W-2 form for the 2021 tax year and offered no information about valid deductions for business losses, capital losses, and bad debt. Gibson initially prepared an appropriate return, on which the undercover agent would have owed taxes. Gibson then voluntarily opted to edit the return to reflect false and fraudulent information on the Schedules C and D.
During the 2016 through 2022 tax years, Gibson prepared at least 135 tax returns containing fraudulent information, causing a loss to the IRS of at least $125,197, according to officials. Gibson pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false and fraudulent income tax returns, an offense that carries a maximum term of three years in prison.
He is released on a $25,000 bond pending sentencing, which is not scheduled. Gibson has agreed to pay restitution of $125,197, officials said.
Stephen Underwood can be reached at sunderwood@courant.com
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