Florida man sentenced to prison for tax refund fraud

Date: Oct. 14, 2026

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

A Florida man was sentenced on Oct. 6, 2026, to 36 months in prison for filing a false tax return on behalf of a trust he controlled as part of a $4.2 million refund fraud scheme. 

According to court documents and statements made in court, McDonald Preval, of Miami, filed numerous false tax returns for himself and trusts he claimed to control. The trust tax returns reported that the trusts had earned significant income and made tax withholding payments to the IRS, purportedly entitling the trusts to large tax refunds. In fact, the trusts did not have the claimed income and did not make payments in the amounts claimed on the returns and therefore were not entitled to the refunds Preval claimed. He also filed tax returns for 2023 that did not include the income from his employment. The false tax returns Preval caused to be filed on behalf of purported trusts and himself collectively sought tax refunds totaling more than $4.2 million. Preval obtained more than $580,000 from his scheme, which he used to pay off the mortgage loan on his house and other personal expenses. 

Preval pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false tax return. In addition to a term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga ordered Preval to pay $580,647 in restitution to the IRS and to serve one year of supervised release.

Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division and U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Melissa Siskind and Kavitha Bondada of the National Fraud Enforcement Division’s Tax Section prosecuted the case.

On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the Fraud Division. The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department’s work to combat fraud supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.

IRS-CI is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. It is the only federal law enforcement agency with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code. IRS-CI has 16 field offices located across the U.S. and maintains an international presence through attaché posts abroad.