Bryan Copeland, a 32-year-old Orange Park man netted more than $5 million through tax fraud and used that money to run his used car dealership in Jacksonville, according to federal agents.
The unsealed 38-count indictment against Copeland shows charges of mail fraud, wire fraud, identity theft and false claims against the government.
If convicted on those charges Copeland could get 568 years in prison and a fine of $9.5 million.
He did have help throughout this scam according to authorities he had people take those tax returns and deposit them into bank accounts they opened up. From there Copeland would take the cash out and buy used cars for his dealership. He ran New Era Auto Sales on Blanding Blvd.
The investigation is said to have started in 2008 but some tax returns listed in the indictment go back to 2006.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen O’Malley told the Times-Union at least 1,300 fraudulent tax returns were part of the scheme, and $5 million is still missing.
Copeland will be at a detention hearing and arraignment Friday.
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