Peoria man admits to filing fake tax returns for nonexistent employees to get $1.8M in refunds

PHOENIX — A Peoria man pleaded guilty April 8 to filing false claims for refund, taking home $1.8 million in tax credits related to COVID-19, authorities said.

Leslie Victor Gentry, 54, prepared and submitted 14 false tax forms to the Internal Revenue Service in 2020 and 2021, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.

He filed those returns on behalf of two businesses that he and his wife owned. Those businesses were not in operation at the time, prosecutors said.

Gentry used fictitious wages paid to employees who did not exist to claim the tax credits, although he later admitted that the companies did not have any employees and did not pay any of the reported wages.

A conviction for filing false claims for refund carries a maximum term of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and restitution to the IRS.

Sentencing is scheduled for July 13.

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