US Department of Justice
LOS ANGELES – A revenue agent with the Internal Revenue Service pleaded guilty this afternoon to charges of filing false tax returns for himself and innocent relatives that claimed, among other things, bogus deductions for alimony and mortgage payments.
Albert Bront, 51, a former Santa Clarita resident, pleaded guilty to one count of subscribing to a false return and two counts of assisting others in subscribing to false tax returns.
Appearing before United States District Judge Otis D. Wright II, Bront specifically pleaded guilty to a count involving his own fraudulent 2005 tax return, but also admitted filing fraudulent tax returns for the tax years 2003 through 2007 that claimed excessive deductions and failed to report certain income. Bront also pleaded guilty to two counts involving fraudulent tax returns he filed without his relatives’ knowledge, further admitting that he stole large tax refunds that were the result of the fraudulent tax returns filed on behalf of the unknowing relatives.
Bront, who has been on unpaid leave from the IRS since he was initially charged in 2009, will remain in jail until his sentencing before Judge Wright on April 13.
In relation to his 2005 tax return, Bront falsely claimed approximately $16,819 in mortgage interest for a home on Birmingham Place in Santa Clarita, even though the property had been given to him by his mother. Bront also falsely claimed an approximately $12,000 deduction for “Alimony paid” and failed to report as income more than $10,000 he received when he stole a federal tax refund that was paid to a relative who was unaware of Bront’s fraudulent activity.
Bront also pleaded guilty to filing fraudulent tax returns for unsuspecting relatives. One of the fraudulent tax returns, which was prepared for the tax year 2004, fraudulently claimed that the relative paid property taxes and mortgage interest on the Birmingham property. Bront collected more than $10,000 from the inflated tax refund and failed to report this income on his 2005 tax return.
As a result of today’s guilty pleas, Bront faces a statutory maximum sentence of nine years in federal prison. In addition to the possible prison term, Bront agreed to pay a total amount of restitution of approximately $127,116.
Bront was initially indicted in 2009 on a charge of threatening federal officers who were executing a search warrant at his home. As part of the plea agreement filed in federal court, prosecutors agreed to dismiss that charge after Bront is sentenced.
The investigation into Bront was conducted by IRS-Criminal Investigation and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
