Fort Collins dentist pleads guilty to tax evasion, hiding $3.5 million from IRS

• Ryan Ulibarri was indicted by a federal grand jury in August on six counts of tax evasion.
• Authorities say Ulibarri created four different fraudulent trusts that he funneled his income through.

A Fort Collins dentist has pleaded guilty in federal court to hiding more than $3.5 million from the IRS in an illegal tax shelter over six years.

Ryan Ulibarri was indicted by a federal grand jury in August on six counts of tax evasion and pleaded guilty to those charges in federal court Friday, according to online court records. Hehas owned and operated Ulibarri Family Dentistry in Fort Collins since 2014.

Ulibarri chose to plead guilty to all six charges without a plea agreement, according to court documents filed by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Ulibarri admitted to attempting to evade his income taxes from 2017-2022 through his use of a fraudulent tax shelter, also called an “abusive-trust tax shelter.” He reportedly used the illegal tax shelter “to conceal income he earned from Ulibarri Family Dentistry from the IRS,” according to the indictment.

Authorities say Ulibarri created four different fraudulent trusts that he funneled his income through, and that he assigned nearly all of his income generated through his dentistry practice to one of the trusts, then funneled the money through the other three trusts. He also restructured his dental practice “so that the majority of it was purportedly owned by one of the trusts,”according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

These trusts “were sham entities devoid of economic substance and served no legitimate business purpose,” according to the indictment.

Ulibarri could face up to five years in prison and a fine up to $250,000 per charge, according to the plea documents.His sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 17.