Craig Francis, 44, of Windsor, Connecticut, is going down for a $255,904 federal tax scam that unraveled nearly a decade after he filed a doctored return. Known also as Horus Durjaya Bey, Francis pleaded guilty today in New Haven federal court to one count of filing a false tax return, capping a brazen fraud that saw him blow through more than $220,000 in just five weeks.
The scheme dates back to February 2009, when Francis e-filed his 2008 federal income tax return with wildly inflated figures—falsely claiming massive interest income and tax withholdings that never existed. His return requested a refund of $255,904, a sum the IRS dumped into his account before catching on to the ruse. In reality, Francis was only entitled to $4,073.
What followed was a spending spree fueled by stolen government funds. Within weeks of the refund hitting his account, Francis burned through over $220,000—money not earned, not owed, and not his. The trail of cash didn’t take investigators long to trace, but it took nearly eight years for federal prosecutors to bring him to justice.
Arrested on June 7, 2017, in Kissimmee, Florida, Francis was released on a $250,000 bond and has since been awaiting sentencing. Now, with his guilty plea locked in, he faces up to three years behind bars when he appears before U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson on May 17, 2018.
Justice isn’t just about prison time. Francis has agreed that, as of today, he owes the IRS a total of $380,448.06 in restitution—covering the stolen refund, plus interest and penalties accrued over years of evasion. That debt follows him, regardless of sentence.
The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Henry Kopel. No aliases, no excuses—just another con caught in the federal net.
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Key Facts
- State: Connecticut
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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