LAWFUEL – The Legal Newswire – SAN FRANCISCO – United States Attorney Scott N. Schools announced that yesterday, a federal grand jury indicted Steven K. Murdock, formerly of Dublin, CA with 12 counts of preparing false and fraudulent tax returns. These charges are the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation.
According to the indictment, Mr. Murdock prepared and presented to the Internal Revenue Service, false and fraudulent U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns, Forms 1040, for taxpayers for the calendar years 2000 through 2003. The tax returns contained materially false items which the defendant knew were false.
The maximum statutory penalty for each count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(2) is three years imprisonment and a fine of $100,000. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
An indictment contains only allegations against an individual and, as with all defendants, Mr. Murdock must be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Thomas Moore is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Kathy Tat. The prosecution is the result of a 2 year investigation by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation.
Further Information:
Case #: CR-07-0618-SBA
A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.
Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
Judges’ calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court’s website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Natalya LaBauve at (415) 436-7055 or by email at Natalya.LaBauve@usdoj.gov.
