Texas attorney John Anthony Castro, the man behind more than two dozen 14th Amendment challenges to former President Donald Trump’s candidacy, was arrested last week on multiple felony counts of providing false tax documents to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Castro, who is currently running a dead-end campaign for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, has accused Trump of being an insurrectionist and a criminal…but now he may land behind bars long before the former president does.
According to court documents made public on Wednesday, prosecutors claim that Castro repeatedly defrauded the government through Castro & Company LLC, his virtual tax preparation business with locations in Florida, Texas, and Washington DC. Castro allegedly generated false deductions on clients’ returns, securing a larger return and usually pocketing the difference.
“Castro would promise a significantly higher refund than taxpayers could receive from other preparers and on many occasions, offered to split the additional refund with taxpayers,” prosecutors said in court documents. “In order to achieve these larger refunds, Castro generated false deductions, that were not based in fact, and which were submitted without the taxpayer’s knowledge.”
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The attorney was busted by an undercover police officer who solicited his financial advice earlier this year. Castro allegedly offered a return of $6,007; for reference, a reputable preparer only promised $373. The forms Castro submitted on the officer’s behalf contained $30,000 in fraudulent deductions, the difference of which would have gone directly to him.
In total, Castro faces a total of 33 felony counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of a false and fraudulent return. Each count reportedly carries a sentence of up to three years in prison—99 years in total.
Prior to his arrest, Castro spent months making headlines with his slew of attempts to remove Donald Trump from the ballots of 27 separate states. Castro’s own presidential campaign has raised roughly $678 since September, most of it through donations made to himself. He has not appeared in any national polls and is not reported as a serious contender for the presidency.
However, his legal activities have had a slightly larger impact.
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As Valuetainment previously reported, Castro’s 14th Amendment case in Florida (which was rejected by the state’s Supreme Court in September) kickstarted the series of similar cases brought against the former president. None of Castro’s ensuing cases, which cite the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment, gained any traction but other measures brought in Colorado and Maine have successfully removed Trump from the ballot.
After his arrest, Castro argued that the case against him is politically motivated as punishment for his anti-Trump activities.
“They sat on it for three years to see if I would stop being a problem, politically, and go away, and I didn’t,” he told the New York Times.
He also expressed his intent to plead his innocence in court, stating: “I don’t care if they offered me one day probation and a slap on the wrist in exchange for a guilty plea.”
“This is going to trial. I am going to convince all 12 jurors that I am 100 percent innocent and that this is political retaliation.”
Castro will return to court next week for arraignment.
Connor Walcott is a staff writer covering politics, culture, and business for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X (Twitter).
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