A former Elk Grove man who filed more than 15 false tax returns, falsely claimed more than $13 million in refunds and used the one refund the government actually paid to buy a house, a 2016 Maserati and more than $300,000 in gold and silver has been sentenced to three years in federal prison in Fresno, California.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Eastern District of California

Marvin Charo Collins, 52, formerly of Elk Grove in Sacramento County, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston to three years in prison and ordered to pay $682,768 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service for making a false claim against the United States, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant for the Eastern District of California announced. The sentencing was announced on Monday, November 2, in Fresno, the court where his case, United States v. Marvin Charo Collins, Case No. 1:24-cr-00255, was prosecuted.

How the scheme worked, according to court documents

According to court documents cited by the U.S. Attorney's Office, between 2017 and 2023 Collins filed more than 15 false tax returns with the IRS in which he reported false income and false tax withholdings and claimed millions of dollars in tax refunds. Over that period he falsely claimed more than $13 million in refunds in total. Prosecutors said he created fictitious entities, including one called the 'Marvin C Collins Estate,' through which he filed the false returns.

Only one of those claims produced a payment, but it was a large one. For one false return, Collins received a refund of $682,768. Court filings in the Eastern District describe a Treasury refund check of $682,768.31 issued to the Marvin C Collins Estate in response to a false 2018 Form 1041 estate tax return filed on or about November 14, and mailed to his post office box in Sacramento County. The indictment charged five counts of making false claims against the United States under 18 U.S.C. section 287, relating to tax returns for tax years 2017 through 2020.

A house, a Maserati and more than $300,000 in precious metals

Using the proceeds of the scheme, Collins purchased a house, a 2016 Maserati and more than $300,000 in precious metals, including gold and silver bars, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. A federal court order in the same case, granting the government's motion for reconsideration on evidence, puts the precious-metals figure in more precise terms for part of that spending: gold and silver coins and bars totaling approximately $292,000 purchased between May 2019 and September 2020 with a refund issued on the basis of a charged false return. The court allowed that evidence in part because, the order said, it could help prove identity, knowledge and intent — including because Collins had submitted returns in the names of numerous entities as well as his own name.

Source: U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California (govinfo), Case No. 1:24-cr-00255

The same court record shows why prosecutors argued Collins knew how a proper return looked. The government said his tax filings between 2013 and 2017 were properly filed Forms 1040, some apparently prepared by a tax preparer, and legitimately reported that his only income in those years was unemployment income — with no false Forms 1099-OID, 1099-A or Schedule K-1s. The court agreed those earlier returns tended to show knowledge, intent and lack of mistake in the later filings.

The 'redemption' theory the courts have repeatedly rejected

On January 20, 2026, Collins pleaded guilty to all five counts of the indictment, about three weeks before his scheduled trial. The U.S. Attorney's Office said the charges stemmed from his use of a convoluted 'redemption' scheme used by tax protesters and sovereign citizens — a theory that, the office noted, has been rejected time and again by the courts. U.S. Attorney Grant said: 'For years, this defendant sought to enrich himself through a fraudulent tax scheme rooted in theories that have been rejected time and again by the courts. Today's sentence demonstrates that individuals who submit false tax returns and exploit discredited tax-avoidance schemes will face justice.'

Why this matters in Sacramento County and the Central Valley

Elk Grove is a large, fast-growing city in Sacramento County, in a Sacramento-region corridor that is home to a substantial Punjabi and South Asian community, including many families who run small businesses, work in trucking and file taxes through preparers and estate or trust forms — exactly the kinds of filings, Forms 1041, 1099 and Schedule K-1 among them, that court documents say were falsified in this case. The case is a concrete warning for ordinary filers in the region: a refund claim built on invented income and invented withholding is not a loophole, however it is packaged online or by promoters of so-called redemption or sovereign-citizen schemes, and the IRS's criminal arm says it traces where refund money is spent — on houses, cars and metals included.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Arelis M. Clemente prosecuted the case.

What happens next

Collins must pay the $682,768 in restitution to the IRS ordered by Judge Thurston, in addition to serving the three-year prison term. His guilty plea to all five counts in January closed the question of liability in the case; the November 2 sentencing sets the punishment. For taxpayers, the practical next step officials point to is unchanged: keep records of real income and real withholding, be wary of anyone promising outsized refunds through estates, trusts or OID forms, and check a preparer's credentials — because, as this case shows, the one refund that slips through can become the centre of a federal prosecution years later.