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Arizona man pleads guilty for defrauding IRS of $17 million through ‘tax shelters’

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Arizona man pleads guilty for defrauding IRS of  million through ‘tax shelters’


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An Arizona man pleaded guilty Friday to defrauding the Internal Revenue Service of $17 million between 2017 and 2023.

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The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Monday that Kent Ellsworth pleaded guilty to two counts of assisting in the preparation of false tax returns, which were used to provide an illegal tax shelter for his clients.

Ellsworth Stauffer, the operator of a formerly licensed professional corporation, concealed nearly $60 million from the IRS, causing an estimated loss of $17 million in taxes that Ellsworth’s clients should have paid, according to the DOJ in a news release.

According to the DOJ, Ellsworth promoted and sold fraudulent tax shelters for about 60 clients nationwide, creating more than 500 false tax returns.

Ellsworth carried out his scheme by reporting his clients’ income to fraudulent trusts and foundations set up to act as bank accounts that held the funds free of being taxed.

The DOJ said that the majority of Ellsworth’s clients were successful business owners who falsely donated the funds to the tax shelters under the disguise that the income was being given to client’s family members, allowing for the bypass of regular tax laws.

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The DOJ added that Ellsworth also charged money by charging for preparing the returns.

The DOJ stated that Ellsworth had been taught how to perform the fraudulent returns but did not specify who taught him.

Ellsworth was scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 14 by a federal court and, if convicted, could face a six-year prison sentence, a fine of $250,00, reimbursement of prosecution expenses, and undergo supervised release.

The DOJ did not immediately provide more information on Ellsworth and his crimes.



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Arizona

Noah Fifita Makes Decision To Return to Arizona for Next Season

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Noah Fifita Makes Decision To Return to Arizona for Next Season


It was an unfortunate season for the Arizona Wildcats, and things don’t exactly look promising moving forward with multiple players leaving for the NFL draft and the transfer portal.

However, keeping their star quarterback, Noah Fifita, was perhaps more important than anything else. 

The 21-year-old announced on Wednesday that he plans to stay at Arizona and won’t enter the transfer portal, despite some speculation around the college football world.

“The love and support for me has been nothing short of spectacular,” Fifita said, according to Justin Spears of Tuscon.com. “I’m so appreciative of Tucson and the University of Arizona. Even when things weren’t going well, I still get a lot of love and support — and I appreciate it. We know Tucson is used to winning and wants a winning football program. We’re going to work our asses off to give them that. We’re so grateful for Tucson. Tucson and the community is one of the reasons why we didn’t want to leave here.”

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Fifita’s return is massive for an Arizona team that wants to return to its standards. After what he showed early in his career, he had a down season, throwing for 2,958 yards, 18 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. 

Many of the struggles from players on the roster certainly had to do with the lack of stability surrounding the program, but after making impressive hires and another year under Brent Brennan’s belt, things should hopefully improve.

Fifita will be tasked with fixing everything that went wrong. It won’t be an easy task for the Huntington Beach, California native, but he’s shown toughness throughout his time at Arizona and should help the program get to where it needs to be.



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He's back: Arizona QB Noah Fifita isn't going anywhere

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He's back: Arizona QB Noah Fifita isn't going anywhere


He’s back: Arizona QB Noah Fifita isn’t going anywhere

At the end of an underwhelming 2024 season that saw Arizona finish the year 4-8 and missing a bowl game, several Wildcats have entered the transfer portal with the number reaching 30 players that have entered the portal. However, most of the nation was waiting for one name from the program to leave and that name was quarterback Noah Fifita, who has been with the program since the historic 2022 recruiting class.

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With the status of Fifita up in the air, Arizona moved quickly to replace former offensive coordinator Dino Babers and hired Seth Doege as the program’s next play-caller. Doege spent one season as Marshall’s offensive coordinator where he constructed the 20th rushing offense that averaged over 31 points per game.

After being hired, Doege had a meeting with Arizona’s QB Tuesday afternoon according to reports by Arizona Daily Star beat writer Justin Spears. Well, that meeting must have worked as shortly after Fifita announced that he will be returning to the Wildcats for the 2025 season.

Despite having a tough 2024 season where Fifita passed for 2,958 yards while completing 60% of his passes to go along with 18 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions, he has decided to give coach Brent Brennan another shot and work with Doege to get this back on track.

“For me, I’ve never been one to run from adversity,” Fifita told The Arizona Daily Star. ” …We’re here to make amends and do everything we can to fix what we didn’t do last year.”

This is the second offseason where Fifita has chosen to stay with the program. The first time was in the middle of a coaching change from former head coach Jedd Fisch to Brennan. Now, he is picking UA again after disappointing 2024 season and a change with the offensive coordinating job.

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Now, the staff and new OC Doege will have the job of getting Fifita back to his 2023 self where he won Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year totaling 2,869 yards, 25 touchdowns with a completion percentage of 72% with just six interceptions thrown.

However, Fifita will be playing his first season without longtime friend and teammate in wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, who has declared for the NFL Draft.

There are a lot of questions still to be answered when talking about Arizona football. But, now two things are certain. The first is that Fifita will be the starting quarterback for the 2025 season and will try to get things back on track. The second is that he has become one of the most beloved players in the history of Wildcats football.

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Cardinals’ Budda Baker Reacts to Massive Contract Extension

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Cardinals’ Budda Baker Reacts to Massive Contract Extension


ARIZONA — When Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker got news that his three-year, $54 million extension with the organization was finalized – he didn’t run around the house. He didn’t pop champagne bottles immediately.

It was spaghetti time.

“I was holding my baby at the time. She’s six months [old], so I was just holding her and having my daughter eating spaghetti for dinner. So it’s kind of just – you’re excited, they don’t of course know what you’re excited about,” Baker told reporters when asked what his initial reaction to getting a deal done was.

“Right after that, it’s like, ‘Daddy, I’m done eating!’ so it’s like, alright, clean the spaghetti off her face, get ready for bath, and then I would say putting the kids down for bed. Just had a special moment with my lady and my sister was home at the time. Giving them high fives, listening to some good music and smiles – it was definitely something special that we’ll remember forever, for sure.”

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After getting paid handsomely, Baker knows it’s time to eat on the field.

Baker is sticking around the desert for at least the next three seasons after striking a deal to land with Arizona rather than testing the open market.

For months, the rumor mill has run rampant on Baker’s future with the Cardinals. Free agency was a possibility after this season, but for a player that means so much to the fan base for the last eight seasons, remaining home to potentially spend his entire career in the same uniform was a priority for Baker.

“That would be special. Not a lot of players can say that they’ve done that. And for me that would definitely be special. At the end of the day we’re trying to win and I want to be that building block or that factor of helping the Arizona Cardinals win. That’s what I’ve stuck my mind on to, and that’s what I’m going to continue to stick my mind into,” said Baker.

“Just having that belief factor – I know a lot of Arizonans are from other places – at the end of the day for us it’s just a matter of the respect factor of the bird gang and the Cardinal fans. It’s definitely special coming into the stadium and seeing those fans come out and cheer us on, it’s definitely something special for me.”

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Baker said he could tell things were changing for the better after his very first meeting with Jonathan Gannon after the Cardinals hired him as head coach following a disaster 2022 season.

Contract negotiations for his new deal (which also shows a reported $30 million guaranteed) were primarily handled by his agent, though Baker said the two would meet maybe once a week to discuss how things were progressing.

Baker has been adamant from the start that he didn’t want to get caught up in the noise of negotiations – mission accomplished.

Inking a deal of that magnitude is a dream for anybody.

Now, Baker has dreams of having a championship parade in Arizona – though hopefully that doesn’t stay a dream for long.

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“To be able to try and get better as a player, but get better as a group, and to win games ultimately, and hopefully go to the playoffs. My main goal is getting a Super Bowl here in Arizona, and that’s what I’ve stuck my mind to,” said Baker.

“I’m going to continue to work hard and train and try to lead the players and team to get to that point. But till then, we’re going to take it one day at a time and we’re going to grind. We’re going to live throughout the process, live in the present and let everything else take care of itself.”



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