Joseph Stewart, Tax Evasion, Florida 2023

Joseph Stewart, a Florida businessman, has been charged with tax evasion and filing false tax returns, according to a federal indictment. The indictment alleges that Stewart, of Miami, earned more than $6.8 million in dividends from his 50% ownership in a business that sold internet access to American servicemembers and contractors stationed abroad. However, Stewart allegedly stopped filing timely tax returns once he began receiving significant dividends from his business.

The indictment further alleges that after Stewart received letters from the IRS in 2019, he hired a tax attorney and return preparers and told them a false story. Stewart allegedly told these professionals that over $3.8 million in dividends that he received between 2013 and 2018 were nontaxable loans. As a result of these falsehoods, the tax professionals allegedly drafted tax returns for Stewart for 2013 through 2020 that underreported his income and taxes due.

The indictment also alleges that in April 2016, Stewart filed a false affidavit with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service that affirmed that he had filed federal tax returns for the previous three years. Additionally, Stewart allegedly attached false unfiled copies of federal tax returns while falsely attesting that they were the true and correct copies of the returns that had been filed with the IRS.

If convicted, Stewart faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each tax evasion count and a maximum penalty of three years in prison for each count of subscribing to a false tax return. Stewart also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The IRS Criminal Investigation and the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction are investigating the case. Trial Attorneys Ezra Spiro and Likhitha Butchireddygari of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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