Beau Wesley Gensmer, Tax Fraud, Minnesota 2023

A Minnesota man pleaded guilty to a tax fraud scheme in federal court, authorities announced.

Beau Wesley Gensmer, of Prior Lake, Minnesota, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and assisting in the preparation of a false income tax return in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Gensmer devised a scheme to assist in the preparation of at least 50 false tax returns that claimed fraudulently inflated tax refunds on behalf of unwitting taxpayer clients from 2012 to 2018.

In furtherance of his scheme, Gensmer hired a tax return preparer in Anchorage, Alaska, to whom he emailed knowingly false information, including fraudulent business losses and charitable contributions, for each return she prepared.

The return preparer relied on the information she received from Gensmer to prepare and electronically file false returns for each of his clients. Gensmer charged his clients a commission of approximately 30% of each fraudulent refund.

In total, Gensmer caused a tax loss to the IRS of at least $3.5 million. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 7 and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for wire fraud and three years in prison for assisting in the preparation of a false tax return.

Gensmer also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties. U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim for the District of Minnesota will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/minnesota-man-pleads-guilty-tax-fraud-scheme