The Texas lawyer and obscure 2024 GOP presidential contender who has filed lawsuits in dozens of states seeking to remove former President Donald Trump from the ballot under the ‘insurrection’ provision of the 14th Amendment has been arrested, reports noted on Thursday.

According to The Hill, “John Anthony Castro was indicted last week on 33 counts of aiding the preparation of false tax returns. Prosecutors claim he ran a virtual tax preparation business that provided customers with tax returns beyond what they were actually owed, defrauding the government.”

Federal prosecutors alleged in court documents: “Castro would promise a significantly higher refund than taxpayers could receive from other preparers and on many occasions, offered to split the additional refund with taxpayers. In order to achieve these larger refunds, Castro generated false deductions, that were not based in fact, and which were submitted without the taxpayer’s knowledge.”The Hill added:

Castro was busted by an undercover police officer, prosecutors outlined, who posed as a customer for his tax services. While a reputable tax preparer promised the undercover agent a $373 tax return, Castro instead claimed he could get $6,007, and offered to split the difference in extra cash.

The tax forms Castro then filed on behalf of the undercover officer contained nearly $30,000 in fraudulently claimed deductions, prosecutors said.

BREAKING: The man who has been filing lawsuits in every state to get Donald Trump removed from the 2024 election ballot has been arrested & charged with filing 17 sets of false tax documents to the IRS. In total, John Anthony Castro has been charged with 33 counts of aiding the… pic.twitter.com/mQWi4MI2ii

— Antonio Sabato Jr (@AntonioSabatoJr) January 10, 2024

Most of Castro’s cases have been dismissed, but the Colorado Supreme Court and the Maine secretary of state have both removed Trump from the ballot, claiming he took part in an “insurrection” on Jan. 6, 2021. He hasn’t been officially charged or convicted of that crime, however.

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an expedited appeal of the Colorado decision.

Castro told The Hill that the charges are politically motivated, “no question about it,” adding that he settled the tax return matter with the IRS in 2021, claiming that some clients just didn’t understand tax law. He added that his firm repaid about $700,000 that year to resolve differences.

“I don’t care if they offered me one-day probation and a slap on the wrist in exchange for a guilty plea,” he said. “This is going to trial. I am going to convince all 12 jurors that I am 100 percent innocent and that this is political retaliation.”