Lance K. Bradford, False Tax Return Scheme, Nevada 2023

Nevada Man Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison for False Tax Return Scheme

Lance K. Bradford, a certified public accountant from Henderson, Nevada, has been sentenced to three years in prison for willfully aiding and assisting the filing of false tax returns. The scheme, which caused an estimated $8 million in tax loss to the IRS, was carried out through Bradford’s real estate development activities and his accounting firm, LL Bradford & Company (LLB).

According to court documents, Bradford began offering high-net-worth clients an ‘investment opportunity’ through which they would make a payment to his partnership entity and receive a large tax deduction of approximately five to seven times the amount of money they ‘invested.’ However, Bradford knew the tax laws did not permit the sale of such deductions in exchange for an investment of money, and the partnership did not incur the losses or depreciation in the amounts represented by Bradford.

Bradford’s scheme involved causing clients’ tax returns to report large false deductions for cost of goods sold, professional and consulting fees, or nonpassive losses. One example of the scheme was in 2014, when Bradford asked a client to make a $417,780 ‘investment’ to his partnership entity in exchange for purported depreciation-based losses to be placed on his client’s 2013 corporate tax return. However, instead of reporting depreciation related to the investment, Bradford caused LLB to prepare and file a Form 1120S that falsely inflated the company’s cost of goods sold by $2,110,000, causing a tax loss to the IRS of approximately $860,627.

U.S. District Court Judge Gloria M. Navarro ordered Bradford to serve one year of supervised release and pay $6,734,338 in restitution to the United States. The case was investigated by the IRS Criminal Investigation, with assistance from the FBI, and prosecuted by Trial Attorney Patrick Burns of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven W. Myhre for the District of Nevada.

Lance K. Bradford, age unknown, of Henderson, Nevada, was sentenced on [date: today] to three years in prison for willfully aiding and assisting the filing of false tax returns. The crime took place in 2011. The sentence also included one year of supervised release and $6,734,338 in restitution to the United States.

The exact date Lance K. Bradford committed the crime was not provided in the source, but the scheme began in 2011.

Bradford’s accounting firm, LL Bradford & Company (LLB), is based in Henderson, Nevada.

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