Salt Lake man sentenced in tax case | The Salt Lake Tribune

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A federal judge has sentenced a Salt Lake City man to two years in prison after his guilty plea to a charge of conspiracy to defraud the federal government by filing false tax returns and trying to claim tax refunds he was not due.

U.S. District Judge Dee Benson also ordered Stephen Duane Murphy to pay the IRS $83,831 for taxes owed.

According to the August 2011 indictment, Murphy was assisted by several "tax defier promoters" in filing false returns for the years 2002 to 2009, including one for 2002 in which he reported no income or taxes due. Murphy claimed that was because he was "not a U.S. person" subject to tax, the charges state.

Murphy also established two fake charities linked to two of his bank accounts and then claimed funds put into the accounts were charitable contributions, prosecutors said.

He was ordered to report to the Bureau of Prisons on June 13.