Louisiana men arrested for gambling-related tax fraud scheme

BATON ROUGE – Two Louisiana men face felony charges for their alleged involvement in a scheme to steal of hundreds of thousands of dollars in state income tax refunds.

Investigators with the Louisiana Department of Revenue, working with the Louisiana Bureau of Investigations, say Stanley Borone Brumfield (Booking Photo) of Hammond and Andre Jawaan Smith (Booking Photo) of Amite participated in a refund fraud scheme involving fabricated gambling winnings.

Investigators say Smith submitted falsified withholding tax forms to the Department of Revenue claiming gambling winnings of $741,978. Based on the tax withholding calculated for the phony winnings, Smith claimed an illegitimate state income tax refund of $17,087.44.

Brumfield allegedly submitted a falsified withholding form claiming gambling winnings of $1,225,000 from casinos in Baton Rouge and Tampa, FL. Investigators determined the casinos had no records of any such winnings. The refund calculated for Brumfield’s fabricated gambling income was $298,607.

These arrests bring to three the number of people charged in this coordinated scheme to defraud Louisiana taxpayers. LDR announced the arrest of the first suspect, Todd Ramon Mabry, in May.

Stanley Brumfield was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on charges of attempted theft, filing false public records and principal to filing false public records.

Andre Smith was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on charges of filing false public records and theft.

Brumfield and Smith are the 78^th and 79^th people arrested under a joint anti-tax fraud initiative of the Louisiana Department of Revenue and the state Attorney General’s Office.