A tax preparer who tried to game the IRS using fabricated gambling winnings has been ordered to federal prison.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Virginia Covington sentenced George Tucker, Jr. of Lakeland, to seven years and six months behind bars for leading a massive conspiracy to commit wire fraud and file false tax returns.
The sentence, handed down after Tucker pleaded guilty in December, comes with a heavy financial price tag. The court ordered Tucker to pay more than $15 million in restitution to the IRS. He must also forfeit approximately $1.35 million, a figure representing the personal profit he skimmed from the criminal operation…