Former Hotel Manager Pleads Guilty to Filing False Tax Return

A former Texas hotel manager pleaded guilty today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Derek T. Gilliland to filing a false income-tax return.

According to court documents and statements made in court, from 2014 to 2022, Hieu Duc Tran embezzled more than $1 million from the Hewitt, Texas hotel where he was a manager. To accomplish this, Tran would charge hotel guests’ credit cards using a payment processing system that he controlled, instead of the hotel’s own system, and keep the funds for himself. He would also deposit checks hotel guests wrote to pay for their stays into his own bank account. Though Tran knew that the money he embezzled was taxable income, he did not report any of that income on the tax returns he filed for 2014 through 2021.

In total, Tran caused a tax loss to the IRS of over $200,000.

Tran will be sentenced at a later date and faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison. He also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Karen E. Kelly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Curtis J. Weidler of the Tax Division is prosecuting the case, with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.