Guy who tried 27 times to disqualify Trump from running arrested on 33 counts of tax crimes

WICHITA FALLS, TX—John Anthony Castro, a Texas man who launched a presidential campaign and subsequently filed over twenty 14th Amendment challenges to the eligibility of former President Donald J. Trump, was placed under arrest Tuesday and has been charged with 33 counts of aiding the preparation of false tax returns.

The arrest came just a day after an Obama-appointed federal judge in Nevada threw out his Trump disqualification lawsuit in that state.

According to Fox News, Castro, 40, of Mansfield, TX was indicted on the 33 counts against him by U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton, with the charges announced Wednesday.  Court records obtained by the outlet show that the indictment was filed under seal on January 3.

In a statement released by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Texas, Simonton said, "Mr. Castro’s alleged crimes are stunning in their brazenness. The Department of Justice will continue to hold people accountable who steal from the federal government’s—and the American public’s—pockets."

The statement explained that Castro owned and operated Castro & Company LLC, a virtual tax preparation company operating in Orlando, Florida, Mansfield, Texas, and Washington, D.C. Since 2016, he allegedly ran a scheme to create and submit falsified tax returns for his unsuspecting customers promising "a significantly higher refund than taxpayers could receive from other preparers," and on multiple occasions offering to split the additional refunds with the customer.

To this end, Castro allegedly falsified the tax returns with fraudulent, non-existent deductions without the customer's knowledge.

Reportedly the complex fraud was uncovered by an undercover agent for the Internal Revenue Service's enforcement division who posed as a customer. 
 

"This is precisely the type of conduct IRS Criminal Investigation and our law enforcement partners are committed to deterring,” Tammy Tomlins, Special Agent in Charge of the Newark Field Office, said. “Today’s indictment sends a clear message, you will be held accountable, if you abuse our tax system for your personal financial gain.”

Castro told The Hill that he fully denies any wrongdoing and claims that the case against him is politically motivated, “no question about it.” He told the outlet that his firm had settled the tax return matter with the IRS in 2021 and he claimed that certain clients of his had misinterpreted tax law. He further claimed his firm paid back approximately $700,000 in 2021 to resolve the matter. 
 

"I don’t care if they offered me one day probation and a slap on the wrist in exchange for a guilty plea,” he said. “This is going to trial. I am going to convince all 12 jurors that I am 100 percent innocent and that this is political retaliation.”