Blog posts with "tax fraud"

Swiss banker Raoul Weil is currently on trial in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for allegedly conspiring to hide the assets of thousands of wealthy United States clients worth $20 billion from the IRS while working as the head of UBS’s global wealth management business. Business Insider provided the following background and summary of this trial: In 2008 Bradley Birkenfeld, an American working for UBS, blew the whistle on the giant Swiss bank's offshore operations, which had helped thousands of ...

On January 7, 2014 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, UBS Tax Fraud Kingpin Raoul Weil pled not guilty to the federal grand jury indictment alleging that, as the head of UBS’s global wealth management business, he conspired to hide the assets of thousands of wealthy United States clients worth $20 billion from the IRS. UBS bankers’ sales pitch to the wealthy U.S. clients included assurances that UBS had better lobbying possibilities in the United States than any other foreign bank, that UBS wou...

Congratulations to our friends at Kohn, Kohn and Colapinto for securing the largest whistleblower award to an individual in history. On September 11, 2012, the National Whistleblowers Center announced the IRS award of $104,000,000 to Bradley Birkenfeld – the whistleblower who exposed a massive tax evasion scheme involving Swiss bank accounts. At the recorded press conference, Attorney Stephen M. Kohn declared: Today, the IRS sent 104 million messages to whistleblowers around the world...

  A recent article from Reuters illuminated an interesting dilemma that the IRS is currently facing in reference to what may be the largest example of tax fraud in US history. The alleged fraud involves the improper handling of the transfer of mortgages into and out of a legal entity known as a Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduit (REMIC), investments which totaled $3 billion in 2010 alone. The IRS allows for special tax treatment of REMICs, exempting the securities created by the REMIC f...

  In an Orlando Sentinel article by Susan Jacobson entitled Elderly who trusted high- living couple now face nightmares, former clients spoke out about Ross and Linda Littlefield, who were “charged with 10 counts of fraudulently using the Lentzes' credit cards, one count of fraudulently using their personal-identification information and one count of engaging in a scheme to defraud for at least $20,000 but less than $50,000.” Following are excerpts from the article: When her husband's Al...

In an interesting use of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), a state run refinery group, claims that Daimler AG paid bribes to one of its staff. An interesting move for a company that could be potentially liable for soliciting bribes if charges were filed in the US.   As the article below notes, this was part of a wider investigation of bribery charges against Daimler by the United States Department of Justice. Potentially, US prose...

  In a story that broke a few days ago, Bernard Kerik, the former police commissioner of New York City, was sentenced to four years in prison for tax evasion and lying to federal officials. Kerik was a close associate of former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and was even nominated in 2004 by George W. Bush for the position of Secretary of Homeland Security. The background checks for the position were the start of Kerik's troubles. Kerik eventually admitted to tax evasion and receiving renovations f...