A Florida man is back behind bars after he managed to convince the IRS to give him millions upon millions of dollars using fraudulent tax returns.
Tampa Bay Times reports 39-year-old Matthew Meredith, of St. Petersburg, Florida, was under supervised release for a prior drug-related charge when he sent in the fake returns between August 2019 and February 2020. The claims totaled over $170 million.
Meredith, who was living at his parents’ house at the time as part of his supervised release, misrepresented his income. The IRS cut his first check for $6,374,576.92 — which he eagerly began spending.
Meredith bought himself a waterfront mansion in St. Petersburg for a bargain $2.6 million before snatching up six Mercedes Benz vehicles, which cost him roughly $850,000.
He then decided he needed more money from the IRS and sought an additional $4 million from the feds.
Meredith was charged with money laundering, theft of government property and making false claims against the government. Should he be found guilty on all three charges, he could be spending 75 years in prison.
He would also have to repay all the money and forfeit all the things he bought with his fake tax returns.