Marcus A. Garza, Bank Fraud & Income Tax Evasion, Texas 2014

In a brazen scheme to swindle financial institutions, 38-year-old businessman Marcus A. Garza was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and ordered to pay over $680,000 in restitution for bank fraud and failure to file an income tax return.

The sentence was handed down in San Antonio, Texas on an unspecified date. Garza, who owned multiple companies including Auto nSure, Liberty Pre-Owned Cars and Trucks, Marcus Garza Enterprises, LLC, and eTax Express, Inc.

Garza's companies sold insurance policies, handled payroll, and prepared tax returns. In pleading guilty, Garza admitted to providing false income tax returns and other documentation to secure hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans and lines of credit from 2005 to 2009.

Many of these loans subsequently went into default, causing significant financial losses for the affected institutions. Garza also admitted to failing to file an income tax return for calendar year 2006.

The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation unit, with Assistant United States Attorney William R. Harris prosecuting the case on behalf of the government.

Garza's sentence marks a significant victory in the fight against white-collar crime in Texas. The restitution order ensures that victims of Garza's scheme will receive some measure of justice.

With this conviction, the people of San Antonio can rest a little easier knowing that those who would seek to defraud them will face the full force of the law.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdtx/pr/san-antonio-businessman-sentenced-federal-prison-bank-fraud-and-failure-file-income-tax