Judge acts to stop bogus tax credit scheme

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- A federal judge has ordered a California man to stop promoting what the U.S. Justice Department calls a scheme to sell billions of dollars in bogus tax credits.

The Justice Department said in a release Wednesday that Lamar Ellis of Brea has been permanently barred from claiming to have billions of dollars in federal research tax credits supposedly granted him for purported scientific breakthroughs.

The federal officials alleged Ellis advertised the sale of the credits on the Internet and issued phony documents to people who were led to believe they would reduce their tax obligations.

Federal officials also alleged Ellis teamed with the non-profit Southwest Louisiana Business Development Center in Jennings, La., to try to sell $24 billion of the fictitious credits.

The civil injunction order requires Ellis to provide the federal government with the names, addresses and Social Security or tax identification numbers of everyone to whom he purported to distribute tax credits.