Amherst Man Pleads Guilty to Filing Fraudulent Tax Returns

        BUFFALO, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr., announced today that Marc Walker, 53, of Amherst, N.Y., pleaded guilty to filing a false claim against the United States before Chief U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny.  The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John E. Rogowski, who is handling the case, stated that the defendant filed federal tax returns for the tax years 2007 through 2011. Walker fraudulently overstated the amount of tax payments withheld from his wages and as a result claimed that he was entitled to tax refunds totaling $46,278 for those years. In fact, the defendant had requested that only minimal amounts of money be withheld from his earnings as payments towards his federal tax liability. As a result of the criminal conduct, Walker received federal tax refunds totaling $23,692 to which he was not entitled. As part of his plea agreement, the defendant agreed to make restitution to the federal government and cooperate with the Internal Revenue Service in a civil tax proceeding.

The conviction is the result of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations Division, under the direction of Toni M. Weirauch, Special Agent in Charge.