Anaheim : Tax Preparer Faces 57 Grand Theft Counts

Tony Ortega, 42, has been arrested and charged with 57 counts of grand theft and supplying fraudulent information on tax returns prepared for clients of a firm he owns, the district attorney’s office announced Thursday.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Mark A. Sevigny said the Anaheim man, who operates Business and Financial Services, also was under investigation by the state Franchise Tax Board in connection with the sale of allegedly bogus tax shelters in the form of purchases of medical and dental equipment involving more than 100 taxpayers.

The equipment, bought from Holistic Profiles through a company called Amada Financial Services, never existed, Sevigny claims. Ortega owns both of those companies, he said.

“The taxpayers were told that Amada Financial Services would see to the leasing of the equipment directly to hospitals, doctors and dentists, and that the taxpayers could deduct depreciation and other related business losses from their state and federal income taxes,” Sevigny said in a news release.

Sevigny said the criminal complaint filed against Ortega documents only 18 of the 140 victims allegedly defrauded by Ortega. Sevigny claims that the total combined loss to the investor taxpayers and the government was at least $1.6 million.