Archive

February 4, 2016

The Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service announced the filing of criminal charges against Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd., a financial institution headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. Julius Baer is charged with conspiring with many of its U.S. taxpayer-clients and others to help U.S. taxpayers hide billions of dollars in offshore accounts from the IRS and to evade U.S. taxes on the income earned in those accounts. The Justice Department also announced a deferred prosecution agreement with Julius Baer under which the company admits that it knowingly assisted many of its U.S. taxpayer-clients in evading their tax obligations under U.S. law. The agreement requires Julius Baer to pay a total of $547 million by no later than Feb. 9, 2016. DOJ

February 2, 2016

A government contractor based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison for filing a false income tax return. According to court documents, Maxim Silinsky, 44, owned an aircraft-leasing and parts-supply company called Simplex Corporation. Simplex contracted with the federal government to lease Russian aircraft to the U.S. Air Force for training purposes and to supply parts and equipment to U.S. military forces deployed to Afghanistan. Silinsky used a complex web of domestic and foreign corporate entities and financial accounts to facilitate his underpayment of both corporate and individual income tax for the years 2007 through 2010. DOJ

January 8, 2016

Joseph Furando was sentenced to 20 years in prison and to pay more than $56 million in restitution for his role in a scheme to fraudulently sell biodiesel incentives.  Furando admitted he and his companies, New Jersey-based Caravan Trading Company and CIMA Green, supplied Indiana-based E‑biofuels with biodiesel that was actually made by other companies and had already been used to claim government tax credits.  Furando realized his profits through the prices he charged E‑biofuels.  Over the course of approximately two years, the defendants fraudulently sold more than 35 million gallons of fuel for a total cost of over $145.5 million.  The defendants realized more than $55 million in gross profits, at the expense of their customers and U.S. taxpayers.  DOJ

October 16, 2015

Jonathan Leland Moore, former chief financial officer of Arrow Trucking Company, was sentenced to serve 35 months in prison for conspiring with James Douglas Pielsticker, former CEO and president of Arrow, to defraud the US by failing to account for and pay federal withholding taxes on behalf of Arrow and by making payments to Pielsticker outside the payroll system.  DOJ

October 14, 2015

Michael J. Mitrow Jr., former CEO and president of pharmaceutical marketing company Access Communications, was sentenced to three and one half years in prison and to pay $83,219 in restitution to the IRS and $1,468,259.43 to his former company for participating in a scheme in which he obtained more than $2 million in fraud and kickback proceeds.  DOJ

July 8, 2015

Maria Elizabeth Townsend, president of Washington-based Townsend Controls Inc., was sentenced to serve more than three years in prison and pay $3,327,124.49 in restitution following her February 2015 conviction of 10 counts of failing to pay federal employment taxes. DOJ

April 29, 2015

Chad, Chris and Craig Ducey pleaded guilty for their role in a multi-state scheme to defraud biodiesel buyers by fraudulently selling biodiesel incentives.  The Ducey brothers operated E-biofuels LLC and they sold over 35 million gallons of biodiesel to customers for more than $145 million by falsely claiming the fuel was eligible for federal renewable energy incentives, when they knew it was not.  In addition, Craig Ducey pleaded guilty to a related $58.9 million securities fraud, which victimized over 625 investors and shareholders of Imperial Petroleum, the publicly-traded parent company of E-biofuels.  DOJ

April 15, 2015

Joseph Furando, together with his two New Jersey companies Caravan Trading Company and CIMA Green, pleaded guilty for their parts in an Indiana-centered scheme to defraud biodiesel buyers and US taxpayers by fraudulently selling biodiesel incentives in connection with tax credits offered under the Energy Independence and Security Act designed to encourage use of renewable fuel sources.  DOJ

December 23, 2014

US Congressman Michael Grimm pleaded guilty to aiding and assisting the preparation of a false tax return by fraudulently underreporting $900,000 in restaurant gross receipts and lowering payroll taxes through ‘off-the-book’ payments in connection with the Manhattan restaurant he owned called Healthalicious. DOJ

December 22, 2014

Bank Leumi, a major Israeli international bank, admitted that it conspired to assist US taxpayers to prepare and present false tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by hiding income and assets in offshore bank accounts in Israel and elsewhere around the world. The criminal conduct spanned over a 10 year period and included an array of services and products designed to keep US taxpayer accounts concealed at Bank Leumi Group’s locations in Israel, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the US. The bank agreed to pay a total of $270 million in fines and penalties and to cease to provide banking and investment services for all accounts held by US taxpayers. DOJ