An Arlington family’s elaborate tax fraud scheme has come crashing down, with a father, his twin sons, and their half-brother now facing the consequences of a multimillion-dollar swindle that targeted the IRS.
David Hunt, along with twins Brandon and Baylon Hunt, and half-brother Corey Burt were convicted by a Fort Worth jury for orchestrating a sophisticated fraud operation that sought $8.5 million in fraudulent tax refunds. The family successfully pocketed more than $1.7 million before authorities caught up with them.
“Fraudulent tax schemes such as this rob the federal fisc and the American taxpayers,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould for the Northern District of Texas, underscoring the gravity of the crimes committed.
Family Fraud Enterprise
The case began unraveling when a federal grand jury indicted all four family members on June 11, 2025. Prosecutors charged them with conspiracy to defraud the United States, alleging they had been filing false tax returns since 2016.
What exactly did they do with their ill-gotten gains? The money reportedly funded a lavish lifestyle that included luxury goods, cryptocurrency investments, and real estate purchases — all financed by American taxpayers.
The family’s scheme wasn’t particularly novel, but it was executed with remarkable audacity. They created sham trusts that conducted no legitimate business activity whatsoever. These paper entities became vehicles for filing false tax returns that fabricated both income and withholding figures, creating the illusion of eligibility for substantial refunds.
Perhaps most brazen was their use of falsified documents, including altered money orders, to lend an air of legitimacy to their fraudulent filings.
A Growing Problem
The Hunt family case represents just one example of a troubling trend in tax fraud schemes across Texas. In an unrelated case in Texarkana, authorities have dealt with perpetrators who employed stolen identities to claim $4.9 million in fraudulent refunds, resulting in a $390,220 loss to the IRS.
“Adevokhai, Martin, and Okunoghae, along with others, created a complex scheme to steal the tax refunds of law-abiding U.S. taxpayers through stolen identity refund fraud,” noted Christopher J. Altemus Jr., special agent in charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Dallas Field Office, regarding that separate case.
Tax preparation professionals have also been implicated in similar schemes. Four Texas tax preparers were recently sentenced for a nearly $8 million fraud against the IRS through false returns. “The defendants orchestrated a multi-year tax fraud scheme that caused substantial loss to the government,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Nancy Larson about that unrelated case.
Why are these schemes proliferating? The potential rewards are enormous, while perpetrators often calculate that the IRS’s limited resources will allow smaller frauds to slip through undetected. In the Hunt family’s case, they managed to operate for years before facing justice.
Broader Impact
The damage from such schemes extends far beyond the immediate financial loss to the government. Tax fraud undermines public confidence in the system and ultimately shifts the burden to honest taxpayers who follow the rules.
The convictions come amid a period of heightened scrutiny on tax enforcement nationwide, with the IRS receiving additional funding specifically targeted at improving compliance among high-income individuals and businesses.
This case stands out not only for its audacity but for the family connection at its core. While the IRS regularly deals with various forms of tax fraud, the Hunt family turned their criminal enterprise into a family business.
Sentencing for David Hunt and his sons and stepson has not yet been scheduled, but the convictions mark the beginning of the end for a scheme that managed to extract millions from American taxpayers before justice finally caught up with them.
