FEDERAL COURT IN NEW JERSEY BLOCKS SHAM TRUSTS AND OTHER TAX SCAMS

Sham Promoter Worked 19 Years for Internal Revenue Service

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department today announced that a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey has ordered Pennsauken, New Jersey resident Clifton Beale to stop selling trusts and other tax schemes that the Justice Department contends are fraudulent.

The court order, to which Beale consented without admitting wrongdoing, permanently bars him from preparing tax returns for others. It also requires that the defendant post the court order on his website, as well as notify his customers of it in writing. In addition, Beale must provide the Justice Department a complete list of his customers. The order applies to Beale, his affiliated businesses and anyone acting in concert with them.

“The Justice Department is determined to stop the promotion of fraudulent tax schemes,” said Eileen J. O'Connor, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “This injunction should help assure people who pay their taxes that those who don't, or who encourage others not to, will not get away with it.”

The complaint against Beale alleges that he and his affiliated business - including Beacon Trust Services, LLC; Lighthouse Estate Planning Trust; Tax Compliance Services, LLC and Clifton Beale Consulting, LLC have promoted schemes using sham trusts and limited liability companies to help customers claim improper tax deductions for non-deductible personal expenses (such as lawn care, utilities and house repairs). According to the complaint, Beale worked in the Internal Revenue Service for nineteen years as a revenue agent and appeals officer.

More information on this case can be found on the Justice Department website at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/txdv03462.htm. Donald Dowie, trial attorney in the Justice Department’s Tax Division, represented the United States in this case.

The Justice Department has obtained several injunctions in the past two years against other promoters of sham trust tax scams. Information on those cases can be found at: