MICHIGAN COURT ORDERS MICHIGAN MAN TO STOP PROMOTING
BOGUS TRUSTS AND PREPARING TAX RETURNS

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department today announced an injunction in a Michigan tax case. Judge Robert Holmes Bell of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan entered a preliminary injunction barring Robert L. Mosher - who does business in his own name and as Mosher Enterprises - from promoting a tax scam using sham trusts to fraudulently attempt to reduce or eliminate his customers’ income tax liabilities.

The order also bars Robert Mosher from preparing federal tax returns and representing customers before the Internal Revenue Service. The injunction will remain in place indefinitely while the case is pending. The Justice Department will seek to have the injunction made permanent.

Evidence presented during the court hearing revealed Mosher helped his customers illegally reduce their tax liabilities by selling them sham trusts to hide income. Evidence also revealed that Mosher prepared and filed tax returns for customers and their trusts claiming improper deductions. Additional evidence at the hearing showed IRS audits of Mosher’s customers have found substantial underreporting of income and tax due.

“Tax scam promoters enrich themselves at the expense of the public,” said Eileen J. O’Connor, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “Their illegal activities can land their customers in serious trouble - including criminal charges. The Justice Department is committed to stopping illegal scams.”

This injunction is the latest in a series of orders the Justice Department has won in its effort to shut down tax-scam promoters.

Tax scams cost the federal government billions of dollars every year. According to a General Accounting Office report (GAO-02-733) issued last year, stepped-up efforts by the Justice Department and Internal Revenue service to crack down on these scams have led to increasing numbers in convictions of tax-fraud promoters. The report can be found online at: <http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d02733.pdf.>.

Current or past customers of Robert L. Mosher can call the Grand Rapids, Michigan office of the Internal Revenue Service for more information at (616) 235-2376. More information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division can be found at www.usdoj.gov/tax <http://www.usdoj.gov/tax>.

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