United States v. Garza
(3:22-cr-00390)
District Court, N.D. Texas
OCT 18, 2022 | REPUBLISHED BY LIT: APR 5, 2025
“I saw your article on attorney Joe Garza from 2022 and I want people to know that the scope of his fraud has not yet been discovered. The day I hired him a month ago I never heard from him again and he actually took money from the opposite side to do nothing.” – submitted on LIT’s contact form, Apr 5, 2025 at 10.41 am.
05/24/2024
68
ORDER TO CONTINUE in the Interest of Justice as to Joseph Garza, Kevin McDonnell, James Richardson, Craig Fenton. Jury Trial set for 6/9/2025 09:00 AM before Judge Karen Gren Scholer. Pretrial Conference set for 5/9/2025 10:00 AM before Judge Karen Gren Scholer. Motions due by 4/9/2025. Responses due by 4/23/2025. Replies due by 4/30/2025. Pretrial Materials due by 5/2/2025. (Ordered by Judge Karen Gren Scholer on 5/24/2024) (chmb) Modified pretrial materials deadline on 5/27/2024 (axm). (Entered: 05/24/2024)
03/27/2025
73
ELECTRONIC ORDER: Telephonic Status Conference before Judge Karen Gren Scholer set for 4/1/2025 at 12:00 PM as to Joseph Garza, Kevin McDonnell, James Richardson, Craig Fenton. Dial-in information to be sent separately. (Ordered by Judge Karen Gren Scholer on 3/27/2025) (chmb) (Entered: 03/27/2025)
U.S. District Court
Northern District of Texas (Dallas)
CRIMINAL DOCKET FOR CASE #: 3:22-cr-00390-S-2
| Case title: USA v. Garza et al | Date Filed: 10/18/2022 |
| Date Filed | # | Docket Text |
|---|---|---|
| 08/28/2023 | 63 |
ORDER TO CONTINUE in the Interest of Justice as to Joseph Garza, Kevin McDonnell, James Richardson, Craig Fenton. Jury Trial reset for 9/10/2024 09:00 AM before Judge Karen Gren Scholer. Motions due by 7/10/2024. Responses due by 7/24/2024. Replies due by 7/31/2024. Pretrial Materials due by 8/2/2024. Pretrial Conference reset for 8/9/2024 10:00 AM before Judge Karen Gren Scholer. (Ordered by Judge Karen Gren Scholer on 8/28/2023) (axm) (Entered: 08/28/2023) |
| 04/01/2024 | 64 | MOTION DEFENDANTS UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR AN ORDER PURSUANT TO FEDERAL RULE OF EVIDENCE 502(D) filed by Joseph Garza, Kevin McDonnell, James Richardson, Craig Fenton (Attachments: # 1 Proposed Order) (Ansley, Jeffrey) (Entered: 04/01/2024) |
| 04/03/2024 | 65 | PROTECTIVE ORDER granting 64 Motion as to Joseph Garza (1), Kevin McDonnell (2), James Richardson (3), Craig Fenton (4). (Ordered by Judge Karen Gren Scholer on 4/3/2024) (ykp) (Entered: 04/04/2024) |
| 04/27/2024 | 66 | NOTICE OF ATTORNEY APPEARANCE by Andrew Patrick Ascencio appearing for USA . (Clerk to set designation as: Assistant US Attorney). (If sealed documents that you are authorized to see were previously filed by U.S. Pretrial Services or U.S. Probation, you will require assistance to gain access to them and any related filings. Please call the clerk at 214.753.2240 during business hours to request access.) (Ascencio, Andrew) (Entered: 04/27/2024) |
| 05/24/2024 | 68 |
ORDER TO CONTINUE in the Interest of Justice as to Joseph Garza, Kevin McDonnell, James Richardson, Craig Fenton. Jury Trial set for 6/9/2025 09:00 AM before Judge Karen Gren Scholer. Pretrial Conference set for 5/9/2025 10:00 AM before Judge Karen Gren Scholer. Motions due by 4/9/2025. Responses due by 4/23/2025. Replies due by 4/30/2025. Pretrial Materials due by 5/2/2025. (Ordered by Judge Karen Gren Scholer on 5/24/2024) (chmb) Modified pretrial materials deadline on 5/27/2024 (axm). (Entered: 05/24/2024) |
| 03/27/2025 | 73 | ELECTRONIC ORDER: Telephonic Status Conference before Judge Karen Gren Scholer set for 4/1/2025 at 12:00 PM as to Joseph Garza, Kevin McDonnell, James Richardson, Craig Fenton. Dial-in information to be sent separately. (Ordered by Judge Karen Gren Scholer on 3/27/2025) (chmb) (Entered: 03/27/2025) |
| PACER Service Center | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Transaction Receipt | |||
| 04/05/2025 11:19:11 |
WE KNOW OF SUCH A CASE THAT WILL BE HEADED Y’ALL’s WAY JUDGE HO
“So it’s vital that district judges exercise their powers carefully and with integrity. And it’s critical that appellate judges be ready and willing to intervene when district courts refuse to stay in their lane.” pic.twitter.com/4LAHAM8P2Y— lawsinusa (@lawsinusa) April 1, 2025
Dallas Attorney Charged In $1 Billion Tax Shelter Scheme
OCT 27, 2022 | REPUBLISHED BY LIT: OCT 29, 2022
A Dallas attorney who allegedly created tax shelters to help high-net-worth clients conceal more than one billion dollars in income from the IRS has been federally charged, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham.
Joseph Garza was indicted Tuesday on 18 counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and 22 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of fraudulent income tax returns. He was arrested on October 25, 2022, at his home and made his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ramirez the following day.
“This attorney allegedly hid more than a billion dollars of client income from the IRS, conning the U.S. Treasury out of roughly $200 million and lining his own pockets in the process,” said U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham. “Our country functions best when every citizen pays his or her fair share. We will aggressively pursue anyone who subverts our tax laws.”
“IRS Criminal Investigation and the Department of Justice are working vigorously to stop abusive tax schemes like the ones created by Mr. Garza,” said Christopher J. Altemus, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation Dallas Field Office. ” Mr. Garza exploited his position as an attorney and purported tax expert to try and legitimize his illegal tax scheme. His arrest should serve as a warning that individuals who create elaborate schemes that have no purpose other than to defraud the IRS and shift the tax burden to honest American taxpayers will be prosecuted.”
According to the indictment, Mr. Garza, 79, allegedly created multiple shell companies – including shell “services” companies and shell “investments” companies – to create a circular flow of funds to help clients avoid paying taxes.
These shell companies purported to provide services to the clients’ businesses or to serve as family investment vehicles, but actually had no legitimate purpose other than to move money. Mr. Garza and others allegedly created sham operating agreements, sham service agreements, phony invoices, and false private annuity agreements designed to give the companies the appearance of legitimacy and conceal the scheme from the IRS.
Mr. Garza and others then allegedly assisted clients in the preparation and filing of fraudulent tax returns, including IRS Forms 1120 and 1120-S, falsely deducting businesses expenses for services that were never performed; IRS Forms 1065 for the service companies, falsely reporting gross receipts for payments that were not earned; IRS Forms 1065 for the investment companies, falsely deducting payments from the investment company to the taxpayer for annuities that didn’t exist; and IRS Forms 1040 and 1040X, underreporting the individual taxpayers’ incomes.
He allegedly charged clients a percentage of the predetermined amount of money they had chosen to shelter from taxes.
The scheme allegedly resulted in more than $1 billion in unreported income and more than $200 million in unpaid taxes.
An indictment is merely an allegation of criminal conduct, not evidence. Like all defendants, Mr. Garza is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
If convicted, he faces up to faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each of the 18 counts of wire fraud, 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and three years in prison for each of 22 counts of aiding and assisting in the filing of false federal income tax returns.
Meanwhile, the investigation is ongoing.
IRS – Criminal Investigations’ Dallas Field Division conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Renee Hunter, Katherine Miller, and Marty Basu of the Northern District of Texas are prosecuting the case with Trial Attorney Robert Kemins of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.
Topic(s):
Tax
Component(s):
Tax Division
USAO – Texas, Northern
Contact:
Erin Dooley Press Officer 214-659-8707 erin.dooley@usdoj.gov
Updated October 27, 2022
Joe Garza, Partner
Joe B. Garza has practiced as as tax and transactional attorney for over three decades.
His major areas of practice include merger and acquisition negotiation and implementation, tax exempt financing, business organization and succession planning, income tax and estate planning, asset protection, securities transactions, and retirement plan consultation.
Mr. Garza has structured, negotiated, and closed more than $300 million of debt transactions and over $1 billion of tax exempt bond transactions as Bond Counsel for the state of Texas.
His tax advisory work is a fundamental component of his practice, serving over 2,000 clients nationally and internationally.
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