Baltimore man indicted for filing fraudulent tax returns

BALTIMORE, Md. - A federal grand jury Thursday issued a superseding indictment against 40-year-old Makushamari Gozo, of Baltimore, for allegedly filing fraudulent tax returns for more than $23 million.

 "The indictment charges that Makushamari Gozo received $180,000 in fraudulent federal tax refunds and tried to collect more than $22 million in tax credits and refunds for over 39 million gallons of alternative fuel that he falsely claimed his sham companies had purchased," said U.S. Attorney for Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.

According to the superseding indictment, between March 1998 and May 2002, Gozo, a native of Zimbabwe, incorporated five businesses in Maryland and engaged in real estate transactions. By October 2004, all of the entities were forfeited by the State of Maryland for failure to pay property taxes.
 
The 18-count superseding indictment alleges that beginning in 2009, Gozo re-incorporated or reinstated each of the five businesses, then used those entities to file fraudulent claims for tax refunds.  Specifically, Gozo filed individual income tax returns claiming that for tax years 2007 through 2011, he earned wages from two of the companies and was entitled to tax refunds totaling more the $417,000.  In addition, the indictment charges that Gozo filed tax returns claiming that a third company had sustained losses in tax years 2007 through 2009, which entitled Gozo to more than $76,000 in tax refunds.