U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana Joins DOJ Fraud Division, IRS, and IRS-CI in National Tax Enforcement Surge Exposing $490M in Tax Fraud

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - The United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Indiana today announced charges against former tax preparer Evans Kludje, 43, of Brownsburg, as part of nationwide enforcement actions led by the Justice Department's National Fraud Enforcement Division, Internal Revenue Service, and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation targeting tax fraud and related offenses. The Southern District of Indiana was a key participant in this surge effort.

Between early September and today, federal prosecutors across the country facilitated fraud enforcement actions spanning over 76 criminal defendants, whose alleged and proven crimes resulted in over $490,000,000 in intended loss to American taxpayers.

Evans Kludje, 43, of Brownsburg, signed a petition to plead guilty to two counts of Aiding and Assisting the Making of a False Federal Income Tax Return on July 31, 2026.

Between 2017 and 2025, Evans Kludje worked as a partner and tax preparer at Millennium Tax Group (MTG), receiving about 40% of the business's profits. In 2021, he launched his own tax preparation company, Imperium Financial Group (IFG), while preparing some returns for MTG. During the 2024 filing season, he briefly returned to MTG to assist with 2023 tax returns, working for both businesses simultaneously.

According to the indictment, Kludje prepared false income tax returns for several clients of both MTG and IFG by submitting fraudulent Schedule A forms without the clients' knowledge. He allegedly claimed large, fictitious itemized deductions-including charitable contributions and other unsupported expenses such as "ordinary loss debt instrument," "unrecovered pension investments," and "claim repayments"-to inflate clients' tax refunds.

These fraudulent deductions significantly reduced clients' taxable income and produced refunds they were not entitled to receive. Kludje allegedly filed these returns under the clients' names without disclosing himself as the paid preparer, as required by law.

From 2017 through 2025, Kludje was responsible for preparing and filing thousands of fraudulent tax returns, which resulted in a loss of millions of dollars.

A sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later date. Kludje faces a maximum sentence of up to five years in federal prison for each count.

This press release details one way in which this office has contributed to ensuring that all Americans pay their fair share. To see the successes of other offices, please see this press release.

On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division ("Fraud Division"). The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department's work to combat fraud supports President Trump's Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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