Tag Archive for U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department Of Justice: Florida Man Sentenced To Prison For Promoting Nationwide Tax Fraud Scheme

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE on Tax Fraud Schemes

Caused $14.6 Million in Fraudulent Tax Refund Claims to be Filed with IRS

A Florida man was sentenced to 51 months in prison for his role in a nationwide tax fraud scheme that involved more than 200 participants in at least 19 states.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Aaron Aqueron, of Clermont, recruited clients to the fraud scheme by convincing them that their mortgages and other debts entitled them to tax refunds. Aqueron collected tax and financial information from the clients to send to co-conspirators, who prepared tax returns and other tax documents to submit to the IRS. These tax returns falsely claimed that banks and other financial institutions had withheld large amounts of income tax from the participants, thereby entitling the clients to a refund. In reality, the financial institutions had not paid any income to, or withheld any taxes from, these individuals. In total, the tax returns filed by Aqueron’s clients sought more than $14.6 million in tax refunds and caused the IRS to actually pay out more than $7.6 million.

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Written by | Posted in Tax Fraud/Evasion/Crimes • United States Department Of Justice

The Singapore Solution Tax Evasion Conspiracy

Indictment Unsealed Against Six Individuals And Foreign Financial Service Firm For Tax Evasion Conspiracy

Indictment Unsealed Against Six Individuals and Foreign Financial Service Firm for Tax Evasion Conspiracy

Defendants Allegedly Used ‘Singapore Solution’ to Enable U.S. Clients to Evade Taxes on Over $60 Million Hidden Offshore

An indictment was unsealed today in New York, New York, that charges  offshore financial service executives and a Swiss financial services company with conspiracy to defraud the IRS by helping three large-value U.S. taxpayer-clients conceal more than $60 million in income and assets held in undeclared, offshore bank accounts and to evade U.S. income taxes.

According to the indictment, from 2009 to 2014, Ivo Bechtiger, Bernhard Lampert, Peter Rüegg, Roderic Sage, Rolf Schnellmann, Daniel Wälchli and Zurich, Switzerland-based Allied Finance Trust AG allegedly defrauded the IRS by concealing income and assets of certain U.S. taxpayer clients with undeclared bank accounts located at Privatbank IHAG (IHAG), a Swiss private bank in Zurich, Switzerland, and elsewhere. In order to assist those clients, the defendants and others allegedly devised and used a scheme called the “Singapore Solution” to conceal the bank accounts of the U.S.-based clients, their assets, and their income from U.S. authorities.
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Written by | Posted in Singapore Solution • Tax Evasion • U.S. Department Of Justice

Admits To Concealing More Than $1 Billion In Assets When Renouncing U.S. Citizenship And Agrees To Pay More Than $500 Million Penalty

U.S. Department Of Justice
Admits to Concealing More Than $1 Billion in Assets when Renouncing U.S. Citizenship and Agrees to Pay More Than $500 Million Penalty

The founder of a Russian bank pleaded guilty to filing a materially false tax return.

“In 2013, when the value of Oleg Tinkov’s investment in his bank’s stock rose to over a billion dollars, Tinkov quickly renounced his U.S. citizenship and then lied to the IRS in a ploy to evade ‘exit taxes’ he knew were due,” said Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “Today, Tinkov has entered a plea to a felony and agreed to pay more than $500 million in taxes, interest and penalties, more than double the amount of money he sought to escape paying to the U.S. Treasury through his fraudulent scheme.”

“Oleg Tinkov brazenly violated United States tax law,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds for the Northern District of California. “No one who enjoys the immense benefits of United States citizenship, as Tinkov did, may avoid the corresponding obligation to support the country he chose. Tax evaders should take notice of the long reach of U.S. law enforcement.”

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Written by | Posted in I.S. Department Of Justice

DOJ: Employment Tax Enforcement Highest Priorities

DOJ: Employment Tax Enforcement Highest Priorities

Civil and criminal employment tax enforcement is among the Tax Division’s highest priorities. Employers have a legal responsibility to collect and pay over to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) taxes withheld from their employees’ wages. These employment taxes include withheld federal income tax, as well as the employees’ share of social security and Medicare taxes (collectively known as FICA taxes). Employers also have an independent responsibility to pay the employer’s share of FICA taxes.

When employers willfully fail to collect, account for and deposit with the IRS employment tax due, they are stealing from their employees and ultimately, the United States Treasury. In addition, employers who willfully fail to comply with their obligations and unlawfully line their own pockets with amounts withheld are gaining an unfair advantage over their honest competitors.

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Written by | Posted in United States Department Of Justice

IRS Issues Summons Requiring Couriers And Financial Institutions To Produce Information About U.S. Taxpayers

U.S. Department Of Justice

Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, David A. Hubbert, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division, and Charles P. Rettig, Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), announced that U.S. District Judge Gregory H. Woods entered an order yesterday authorizing the IRS to issue summonses requiring multiple couriers and financial institutions to produce information about U.S. taxpayers who may have used the services of Panama Offshore Legal Services (“POLS”) and its associates (together, the “POLS Group”) to evade federal income taxes.  Specifically, the IRS summonses seek to trace courier deliveries and electronic fund transfers between the POLS Group and its clients, in order to identify the POLS Group’s U.S. taxpayer clients who have used the POLS Group’s services to create or control foreign assets and entities to avoid compliance with their U.S. tax obligations.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said:  “This action underscores our Office’s commitment to hold accountable those who use offshore service providers to avoid U.S. taxes.  In issuing these John Doe summonses, we continue our joint efforts with the IRS to investigate tax evaders who use foreign financial accounts and sham foreign entities to hide their assets.”

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Written by | Posted in IRS • United States Department Of Justice

IRS Criminal Investigation On Tax Refunds

U.S. Department Of Justice
Residents of Florida, Georgia and North Carolina Indicted for Promoting Tax Fraud Scheme

Allegedly caused $40 million in false tax refund claims to be filed

A federal grand jury in Orlando, Florida, returned an indictment April 21, 2021, charging residents of Florida, Georgia and North Carolina with promoting a tax fraud scheme.

According to the indictment, from 2013 to 2017, Iran Backstrom of Milledgeville, Georgia; Mehef Bey of Charlotte, North Carolina; Yomarie Febres of Atlanta, Georgia; and Aaron Aqueron of Clermont, Florida, allegedly conspired together and with others to promote a tax fraud scheme to more than 200 individuals in 12 states. The indictment alleges that the defendants recruited clients by falsely representing that the clients’ mortgages and other debts entitled them to tax refunds. To execute the scheme, the defendants and their conspirators allegedly prepared and caused clients to file tax returns that falsely claimed large amounts of income taxes had been withheld from the clients and paid over to the IRS, entitling the clients to tax refunds. According to the indictment, the defendants typically charged each client fees ranging from approximately $10,000 to $15,000 and did not report on their own tax returns any income generated from the scheme.

The indictment further alleges that when the IRS discovered the fraud and attempted to recover the fraudulently obtained tax refunds, Aqueron encouraged clients to provide the IRS with false information and remove funds from their bank accounts in order to thwart the IRS’s collection efforts. As a result of the scheme, the defendants allegedly filed, and caused to be filed, with the IRS approximately $40 million in fraudulent claims for tax refunds.

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Written by | Posted in Tax Fraud/Evasion/Crimes

Florida Man Sentenced After Fraudulently Obtaining $3.9 Million In PPP Loans

Florida Man Sentenced After Fraudulently Obtaining $3.9 Million In PPP Loans
Defendant Purchased Lamborghini with COVID-19 Relief Funds

A Florida man was sentenced today to more than six years in prison for fraudulently obtaining approximately $3.9 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and using those funds, in part, to purchase a $318,000 Lamborghini luxury car for himself.

David T. Hines, 29, of Miami, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on Feb. 10. According to court documents, Hines submitted multiple PPP applications to a PPP-participating lender, claiming to have had dozens of employees and millions of dollars in monthly payroll. In addition to submitting false and fraudulent IRS forms to support the applications, Hines also assisted other individuals in obtaining fraudulent PPP loans. As part of the sentence, the court ordered Hines to forfeit the $3.4 million in fraudulent loan proceeds that law enforcement seized and the 2020 Lamborghini Huracan that Hines purchased for approximately $318,000.

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Written by | Posted in PPP Loan • United States Department Of Justice

Court Authorizes Service Of John Doe Summons Seeking Identities Of U.S. Taxpayers Who Have Used Cryptocurrency

Court Authorizes Service Of John Doe Summons Seeking Identities Of U.S. Taxpayers Who Have Used Cryptocurrency

A federal court in the Northern District of California entered an order today authorizing the IRS to serve a John Doe summons on Payward Ventures Inc., and Subsidiaries d/b/a Kraken (Kraken) seeking information about U.S. taxpayers who conducted at least the equivalent of $20,000 in transactions in cryptocurrency during the years 2016 to 2020. The IRS is seeking the records of Americans who engaged in business with or through Kraken, a digital currency exchanger headquartered in San Francisco, California.

“Gathering the information in the summons approved today is an important step to ensure cryptocurrency owners are following the tax laws,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “Those who transact with cryptocurrency must meet their tax obligations like any other taxpayer.”

“There is no excuse for taxpayers continuing to fail to report the income earned and taxes due from virtual currency transactions,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. “This John Doe summons is part of our effort to uncover those who are trying to skirt reporting and avoid paying their fair share.”

Cryptocurrency, as generally defined, is a digital representation of value. Because transactions in cryptocurrencies can be difficult to trace and have an inherently pseudoanonymous aspect, taxpayers may be using them to hide taxable income from the IRS. On April 1, 2021, a federal court in the District of Massachusetts granted an order authorizing the IRS to serve a similar John Doe summons on Circle, a digital currency exchange headquartered in Boston.

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Written by | Posted in Cryptocurrency • United States Department Of Justice

U.S. Department Of Justice: Stolen Identity Refund Fraud

U.S. Department Of Justice: Stolen Identity Refund Fraud

The IRS does not send unsolicited email, text messages or use social media to discuss your personal tax issues. If you receive a telephone call from someone claiming to be an IRS employee and demanding money, you should consult the IRS Tax Scams/Consumer Alerts webpage: http://www.irs.gov/uac/Tax-Scams-Consumer-Alerts. If you know you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to believe that you do, report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) at 1.800.366.4484 or at www.tigta.gov.

Stolen Identity Refund Fraud (SIRF) Enforcement

One of the Tax Division’s highest priorities is prosecuting people who use stolen identities to steal money from the United States Treasury by filing fake tax returns that claim tax refunds. Working to stop Stolen Identity Refund Fraud, or SIRF, is vital because these schemes threaten to disrupt the orderly administration of the income tax system for hundreds of thousands of law abiding taxpayers and have cost the United States Treasury billions of dollars.

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Written by | Posted in TaxConnections

United States Department Of Justice States: Unpaid Employment Taxes Are A Substantial Problem

U.S. Department Of Justice

Civil and criminal employment tax enforcement is among the Tax Division’s highest priorities. Employers have a legal responsibility to collect and pay over to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) taxes withheld from their employees’ wages. These employment taxes include withheld federal income tax, as well as the employees’ share of social security and Medicare taxes (collectively known as FICA taxes). Employers also have an independent responsibility to pay the employer’s share of FICA taxes.

When employers willfully fail to collect, account for and deposit with the IRS employment tax due, they are stealing from their employees and ultimately, the United States Treasury. In addition, employers who willfully fail to comply with their obligations and unlawfully line their own pockets with amounts withheld are gaining an unfair advantage over their honest competitors.

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Written by | Posted in Unpaid Employment Taxes

Businessman Indicted For Not Reporting Foreign Bank Accounts And Filing False Documents With The IRS

Businessman Indicted For Not Reporting Foreign Bank Accounts And Filing False Documents With The IRS

A federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, returned an indictment on March 3, 2021, charging a Virginia man with failing to file Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBARs) and filing false documents with the IRS.

According to the indictment, Azizur Rahman of Herndon, had a financial interest in and signature authority over more than 20 foreign financial accounts, including accounts held in Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Singapore, and Bangladesh. From 2010 through 2016, Rahman allegedly did not disclose his interest in all of his financial accounts on annual FBARs, as required by law. Rahman also allegedly filed false individual tax returns for the tax years 2010 through 2016 that did not report to the IRS all of his foreign bank accounts and income.

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Written by | Posted in Reporting Foreign Bank Accounts • U.S. Department Of Justice