Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut and Joel P. Garland, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation in New England, today announced that CRAIG FRANCIS, also known as Horus Durjaya Bey, 44, formerly of Windsor, has been charged by indictment with one count of filing a false tax return and one count of obstructing the administration of federal tax laws.
The indictment was returned by a grand jury in New Haven on Feb. 11, 2015. FRANCIS, who is alleged to have absconded, was arrested on June 7, 2017, in Kissimmee, Florida. The indictment was unsealed on that date. After his arrest, FRANCIS appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Karla R. Spaulding in Orlando and was ordered detained pending his removal to the District of Connecticut.
According to the indictment, in February 2009, FRANCIS filed a federal income tax return falsely claiming that he was entitled to a $255,904 tax refund, and the Internal Revenue Service issued the refund before discovering the falsity of the tax return. The indictment also alleges that FRANCIS promptly spent the fraudulently obtained funds and engaged in various acts to avoid paying the funds back, including filing a false amended tax return, and submitting a series of false bonds to the IRS, which had no value but purported to pay off FRANCIS’s debt to the IRS.
If convicted of the charges, FRANCIS faces a maximum term of imprisonment of six years.
U.S. Attorney Daly stressed that an indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
This matter is being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation Division. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Henry Kopel with the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
