A Houston man has been sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for filing false statements on his federal tax returns, resulting in more than $260,000 in fraudulent refunds. The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
Joseph Patrick Butler pleaded guilty on April 23, 2025, to charges related to the scheme. According to court records, Butler submitted false wage and withholding information on his tax returns over eight years. These actions led the IRS to issue him refunds that became his main source of income during that period.
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake imposed the sentence and ordered one year of supervised release following Butler’s prison term. During sentencing, the court addressed the extent of Butler's actions: “eight years of continuous fraud cries out” for an appropriately significant sentence.
Butler admitted that from 2013 through 2020 he filed false joint Form 1040 U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns and received inflated refunds he was not entitled to receive. He also acknowledged creating shell companies that issued W-2 forms to himself, falsely reporting large amounts of wages and tax withholdings each year.
In reality, Butler did not earn these wages nor were any taxes withheld as claimed on the forms he submitted. Despite being caught by the IRS and having payments placed on hold, he continued attempting to claim fraudulent refunds.
The investigation was conducted by IRS Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brad Gray and Shirin Hakimzadeh prosecuted the case.
Butler will remain free on bond until he is assigned a facility by the Federal Bureau of Prisons where he will serve his sentence.
