Four individuals have been charged in an indictment unsealed
today in the Southern District of New York with wire fraud, tax fraud, money
laundering and other offenses in connection with their alleged roles in a
decades-long criminal scheme perpetrated by Mossack Fonseca & Co. (“Mossack
Fonseca”), a Panamanian-based global law firm, and related entities.
Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the
Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman for
the Southern District of New York, Chief Don Fort of IRS Criminal Investigation
(IRS-CI), and Special Agent in Charge Angel M. Melendez of U.S. Immigrations
and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York made
the announcement today.
Ramses Owens, 50, a
Panamanian citizen; Dirk Brauer, 54, a German citizen; Richard Gaffey, a U.S.
citizen, of Medfield, Massachusetts; and Harald Joachim Von Der Goltz, 81, a
German citizen, have been charged in an 11-count indictment. Owens, Gaffey and Von Der Goltz are charged
with one count of conspiracy to commit tax evasion, one count of wire fraud,
and one count of money laundering conspiracy.
Owens and Brauer have been charged with one count of conspiracy to
defraud the United States and one count of conspiracy to commit wire
fraud. Gaffey and Von Der Goltz are
additionally charged with four counts of willful failure to file an FBAR. Von Der Goltz has been additionally charged
with two counts of making false statements.
Three of the four defendants named in the indictment have
been arrested. Brauer, who worked as an
investment manager for Mossfon Asset Management, S.A. (“Mossfon Asset
Management”), an asset management company closely affiliated with Mossack
Fonseca, was arrested in Paris, France, on Nov. 15. Von Der Goltz, a former U.S. resident and
taxpayer, was arrested in London, United Kingdom, on Dec. 3. Gaffey, a U.S.-based accountant, was arrested
in Boston, Massachusetts earlier today.
Owens, a Panamanian attorney who worked for Mossack Fonseca, remains at
large.
“Law firms, asset managers, and accountants play key roles
enabling entry into the global financial system,” said Assistant Attorney
General Benczkowski. “The charges
announced today demonstrate our commitment to prosecute professionals who
facilitate financial crime across international borders and the tax cheats who
utilize their services.”
"As alleged, these defendants went to extraordinary
lengths to circumvent U.S. tax laws in order to maintain their wealth and the
wealth of their clients,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Berman. “For decades, the defendants, employees and a
client of global law firm Mossack Fonseca allegedly shuffled millions of
dollars through offshore accounts and created shell companies to hide
fortunes. In fact, as alleged, they had
a playbook to repatriate un-taxed money into the U.S. banking system. Now, their international tax scheme is over,
and these defendants face years in prison for their crimes.”
“The unsealing of this indictment sends a clear message that
IRS-CI is actively engaged in international tax enforcement, and more
investigations are on the way,” said IRS-CI Chief Don Fort. “IRS-CI specializes in unraveling these
intricate offshore tax schemes and following the money around the globe
wherever it may lead. Cases like this
help maintain the public’s confidence in our tax system by letting them know
that we investigate and prosecute those who evade their tax obligation.”
“Today we announce the indictment of four individuals who
allegedly defrauded the U.S. government through a large scale, intercontinental
money laundering and wire fraud scheme, associated with Mossack Fonseca and its
affiliates,” said HSI Special Agent-in-Charge Angel M. Melendez. “HSI’s El Dorado Task Force, together with
the IRS, built a case that uncovered an alleged complex trail of offshore shell
corporations and bogus foundations used to disguise the beneficial ownership of
huge amounts of money. These efforts
reflect the commitment of U.S. law enforcement to follow that trail and
apprehend these criminals regardless of where they are in the world.”
According to the indictment, from at least in or about 2000
through in or about 2017, Owens and Brauer conspired with others to help U.S.
taxpayer clients of Mossack Fonseca conceal assets and investments, and the
income generated by those assets and investments, from the IRS through
fraudulent, deceitful, and dishonest means.
To conceal their clients’ assets and income from the IRS, Owens and
Brauer allegedly worked to establish and manage opaque offshore trusts and
undeclared bank accounts on behalf of U.S. taxpayers who were clients of
Mossack Fonseca. Owens and Brauer
allegedly marketed, created, and serviced sham foundations and shell companies
formed under the laws of countries such as Panama, Hong Kong, and the British
Virgin Islands, to conceal from the IRS and others the ownership by U.S.
taxpayers of accounts established at overseas banks, as well as the income
generated in those accounts. As
structured by Mossack Fonseca, the sham foundations typically “owned” the shell
companies that nominally held the undeclared assets on behalf of the U.S.
taxpayer clients of Mossack Fonseca. The
names of Mossack Fonseca’s clients generally did not appear anywhere on the
incorporation paperwork for the sham foundations or related shell companies,
although the clients in fact beneficially owned, and had complete access to,
the assets of those sham entities and accounts.
In furtherance of the scheme, and in exchange for additional
fees, Owens and Brauer allegedly provided support to clients who had purchased
the sham foundations and related shell companies by providing corporate meeting
minutes, resolutions, mail forwarding, and signature services. Moreover, Owens and Brauer are alleged to
have purposefully established the bank accounts in locations with strict bank
secrecy laws, which impeded the ability of the United States to obtain bank
records for the accounts. Owens and
Brauer also allegedly instructed U.S. taxpayer clients of Mossack Fonseca about
how to repatriate funds to the United States from their offshore bank accounts
in a manner designed to keep the undeclared bank accounts concealed. Among other things, Owens and Brauer instructed
clients to use debit cards and fictitious sales to repatriate their funds
covertly, the indictment alleges.
Von Der Goltz was allegedly one of Mossack Fonseca’s U.S.
taxpayer clients. At all relevant times,
Von Der Goltz was a U.S. resident and was subject to U.S. tax laws, which
required him to report and pay income tax on worldwide income, including income
and capital gains generated in domestic and foreign bank accounts. U.S. citizens, resident aliens, and permanent
legal residents with a foreign financial interest in or signatory authority
over a foreign financial account worth more than $10,000 are required to file a
Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, commonly known as an FBAR,
disclosing the account. Von Der Goltz is
alleged to have evaded his tax reporting obligations by setting up a series of
shell companies and bank accounts, and hiding his beneficial ownership of the
shell companies and bank accounts from the IRS.
These shell companies and bank accounts allegedly made investments
totaling tens of millions of dollars. According to the indictment, Von Der Goltz was
assisted in this scheme by Owens and by Gaffey, a partner at a U.S.-based
accounting firm. In furtherance of Von
Der Goltz’s fraudulent scheme, Von Der Goltz, Gaffey, and Owens are alleged to
have falsely claimed that Von Der Goltz’s elderly mother was the sole
beneficial owner of the shell companies and bank accounts at issue because, at
all relevant times, she was a Guatemalan citizen and resident, and — unlike Von
Der Goltz — was not a U.S. taxpayer.
As alleged in the indictment, Gaffey, in addition to
assisting Von Der Goltz evade U.S. income taxes and reporting requirements,
also worked closely with Owens to help another U.S. taxpayer client
(“Client-1”) of Mossack Fonseca defraud the IRS. Client-1 allegedly maintained a series of
offshore bank accounts, which Mossack Fonseca helped Client-1 conceal from the
IRS for years. The indictment further
alleges that, upon the advice of Owens and Gaffey, Client-1 covertly
repatriated approximately $3 million of Client-1’s offshore money to the United
States by falsely stating on Client-1’s federal tax return that the money
represented proceeds from the sale of a company. After Client-1 repatriated approximately $3
million in this manner, approximately $1 million still remained in Client-1’s
offshore account, the existence of which remained hidden from the IRS.
The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and
the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable
doubt in a court of law.
The investigation was conducted by IRS-CI and HSI with
significant assistance by the Justice Department’s Tax Division and the
FBI. The Justice Department’s Office of
International Affairs and law enforcement partners in France and the United
Kingdom secured the arrests of the defendants located overseas.
This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Michael
Parker and Parker Tobin of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset
Recovery Section of the Justice Department and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah
E. Paul, Nathan Rehn, Kristy Greenberg and Andrew Adams of the Manhattan U.S.
Attorney’s Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit and Money Laundering and
Transnational Criminal Enterprises Unit, with substantial support from previous
co-counsel, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann Marie Blaylock of the Western District
of Kentucky.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment