A Twin Cities man filed fraudulent tax claims seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in returns, netted more than $19 million and used some of the ill-gotten gains to buy a lakeside mansion and cryptocurrency, according to a federal indictment.
Caesar Munir Wilson, 37, of Eden Prairie, was charged in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis on Jan. 29 with conspiracy to file false claims for tax refunds, filing a false claim for a tax refund, money laundering, and bank fraud from 2022 to 2023.
Wilson was arrested, then released on his own recognizance. He’s due back in court Feb. 27.
In a brief telephone interview Feb. 10 with the Minnesota Star Tribune, Wilson said that “a lot of what they are saying [in the indictment] is completely inflammatory and baseless.”
Wilson said he is acting as his own attorney in his case, explaining, “I am my wisest counsel.”
U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen said in a statement released Feb. 9 that “individuals who file false claims for tax refunds and who conspire with others to violate the laws of the Unites States must be held accountable for their criminal conduct.”
Another defendant in the alleged scheme, 39-year-old Nathan Lloyd Staples, of Mayer, Minn., pleaded guilty in February 2025 to establishing a phony trust and collecting more than $10 million in a single federal tax return, then using his windfall to buy a house and various big-ticket items.
Staples’ sentencing has yet to be scheduled. His plea agreement noted that he could be sentence to nearly five years in prison.
