Dallas Grand Jury Charges Four Texans Over Illegal Tax Shelter: $1.5 Billion in Income and $200 Million Tax Loss Alleged
DALLAS — A federal grand jury in Dallas returned an indictment on September 22 charging four Texas residents with conspiracy to defraud the United States and other crimes for promoting an illegal tax shelter, the Justice Department announced on October 14. The defendants are Duncan John MacDonald, Sarah Duren, Richard Ronald Cayce, and Thomas Weickgenant.
According to the indictment, the four promoted and sold a fraudulent trust scheme that was used to shelter more than $1.5 billion of income, causing an estimated tax loss to the IRS of more than $200 million. They allegedly sold the shelter to clients for fees that often exceeded $100,000, fraudulently telling clients they could assign their income to sham trusts to defer paying taxes in perpetuity while continuing to enjoy the benefit and control of their assets and income. They also allegedly encouraged some clients to backdate their trusts and file amended returns claiming refunds for prior years' taxes.
The indictment alleges that Weickgenant, who allegedly filed false tax returns for tax shelter clients, obstructed IRS efforts to audit those clients, including instructing clients not to speak with the IRS and encouraging at least one client not to comply with a U.S. District Court order enforcing an IRS summons. MacDonald and Duren, who are common-law spouses, allegedly evaded income taxes on the millions of dollars they received in fees: concealing MacDonald's ownership of the tax shelter business, lying to federal investigators, filing false tax returns, using trusts to conceal income, and paying personal living expenses through trusts and nominee accounts. Cayce, who owned the distributorship licensing the trust tax shelter, likewise received millions of dollars in fees that he failed to report on his income tax returns.
MacDonald also allegedly solicited $2 million from investors purportedly to purchase shares in a business promoting digital trusts, and instead used the money for luxury goods, including a Rolls Royce Ghost and the down payment on a yacht. At the time, MacDonald was allegedly under a court-ordered injunction prohibiting him from selling securities not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Each defendant is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, which carries a maximum of five years in prison. Aiding in the preparation of a false return carries up to three years per count; Weickgenant is also charged with corrupt interference with the IRS; MacDonald and Duren face tax evasion counts carrying up to five years each; Cayce faces false-return counts carrying up to three years each; and MacDonald faces wire fraud counts (up to 20 years each) and transactions in criminally derived property (up to 10 years each).
Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department's National Fraud Enforcement Division and U.S. Attorney Ryan R. Raybould for the Northern District of Texas made the announcement. IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case, and the National Fraud Enforcement Division's Tax Section and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas are prosecuting. The Justice Department said the case was among those announced in the National Fraud Enforcement Division's recent nationwide tax enforcement actions; the division was created in April and supports the government-wide Task Force to Eliminate Fraud chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
(Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs)
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：华盛顿特区宾夕法尼亚大道950号美国司法部总部大楼外墙的「司法部」标志（2025年2月7日摄）。G. Edward Johnson摄，CC BY 4.0，取自维基共享资源。The Department of Justice wall sign at 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, February 7, 2025. Photo by G. Edward Johnson, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
