SANTA ANA, Calif.—A Westminster-based tax preparer pleaded guilty April 10 to operating a scheme to cheat the federal government out of about $3.8 million.
Anton Nguyen, 54, of Fountain Valley pleaded guilty to a count of conspiracy to defraud the federal government. A sentencing date was set for July 24.
Nguyen operated Century Travel & Tax in Westminster. From 2012 through June 10, 2019, he and co-conspirator John Tran and others, “filed hundreds of tax returns using personal identifying information belonging to other individuals, without these individuals’ permission, generating at least $410,000 in tax refund payments from the United States,” according to Nguyen’s plea agreement.
The scheme also involved creating phony IRS forms reporting income for the years the refund requests were made, according to the plea agreement. The bogus forms also allowed the schemers to claim various deductions, according to the agreement….