BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — Two Louisiana men are facing felony charges for allegedly defrauding the state of hundreds of thousands of dollars through a tax refund scheme based on fake gambling winnings.
Stanley Brumfield, of Hammond, and Andre Smith, of Amite, are accused of filing falsified withholding forms to claim fraudulent Louisiana income tax refunds, according to investigators from the Louisiana Department of Revenue (LDR) and the Louisiana Bureau of Investigations.
Authorities said Smith falsely reported gambling winnings of $741,978, using fake withholding tax forms to claim a refund of $17,087.44. Similarly, Brumfield claimed $1,225,000 in fake winnings supposedly from casinos in Baton Rouge and Florida. Investigators confirmed the casinos had no record of such payouts. Brumfield’s fabricated claim would have resulted in a $298,607 refund.
Officials confirmed this is part of a broader scam, with Todd Ramon Mabry having been arrested in May as the first suspect in the scheme. Brumfield and Smith bring the total to 79 arrests under the LDR and Attorney General’s joint anti-tax fraud initiative.
Charges:
Brumfield: Attempted theft, filing false public records, principal to filing false public records
Smith: Theft and filing false public records
Both suspects were booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.
