Tax Fraud

October 15, 2020

Robert F. Smith, who formed and beneficially owned Belize entity the Excelsior Trust and Nevis entity Flash Holdings, has entered into a non-prosecution agreement, agreeing to pay $139 million, to resolve claims that between 2000 and 2015 he unlawfully used the offshore entities and their offshore bank accounts to conceal income earned by him on private equity investments and evade millions in taxes.  Using the offshore trust accounts, Smith willfully did not report to the IRS over $200 million of partnership income.  In addition, he unlawfully failed to report his ownership of foreign bank accounts in BVI and Switzerland.  The $139 million settlement consists of $56 million in taxes and penalties on unreported income and $82 million in penalties stemming from his failure to report his offshore bank accounts.  In addition, Smith agreed to abandon a $182 million refund claim based on alleged charitable contributions in 2018 and 2019.  DOJ; USAO ND Cal

October 10, 2020

The owners of Keystone Biofuels Inc., Ben Wootton and Race Miner, were sentenced to approximately 5.5 years imprisonment each and they and Keystone were ordered to pay restitution and fines totaling $9.23 million to the IRS and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection following their convictions at trial for charges relating to their renewable fuels scam.  The defendants falsely claimed that they were able to produce biodiesel that permitted them to create renewable fuel credits known as RINs; then then sold both the non-qualifying fuel and the fraudulently-created RINs.  In addition, Keystone claimed federal tax refunds under the IRS Biofuel Mixture Credit program, creating false books and records to conceal the non-qualifying, and in some cases non-existent, fuel.  DOJ

October 9, 2020

Steve Choi, who owned and operated companies that provided food services in federal government buildings in the D.C. area, was sentenced to nearly two years in prison and ordered to pay over $11 million in restitution following his guilty plea on tax charges.  The government alleged that Choi failed to pay over $10 million in employment and sales taxes, despite withholding more than $4.4 million in employment taxes from employee checks and charging sales taxes to customers.  DOJ

October 6, 2020

Financial services firm Strachans SA, now Strachans SA in Liquidation, pleaded guilty to charges that it conspired with U.S. taxpayers and others to enable the taxpayers to conceal income and assets in offshore accounts.  Strachans services included the formation of trusts and offshore companies, management of undeclared assets held by nominee sham entities, and the facilitation of cash withdrawals by U.S. clients from the undeclared offshore entities through fake loans, sham consultancy agreements, dummy invoicing, and other methods.  Strachans, which voluntarily disclosed its conduct to the IRS in 2014, will pay a fine of $500,000.  DOJ

August 26, 2020

LA-based clothing company Ambiance Apparel and its owner Sang Bum “Ed” Noh have pleaded guilty to customs violations and tax offenses, agreeing to pay a total of $118 million, which includes $36 million in previously-seized cash.  Defendants evaded import tariffs by colluding with Asian manufacturers for the submission of invoices to CBP that fraudulently understated the value of imported clothing. The fraudulent invoices indicated payment terms by letter of credit; a second invoice for the balance of the actual price was paid by defendants by wire transfer. In less than five years, Ambiance undervalued imports by about $82.6 million and failed to pay more than $17.1 million in tariffs. In addition, defendants failed to properly report cash transactions and maintained a second set of books for cash transactions, evading nearly $17 million in taxes.  The company will be placed on probation for five years and will be ordered to undertake specific compliance procedures.  USAO CD Cal

August 6, 2020

Following his conviction at trial on charges to defraud the EPA and IRS, David Dunham, who had ownership interests in Smarter Fuel LLC and Greenworks Holdings LLC, was sentenced to seven years in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $10.21 million.  Dunham fraudulently applied for, received, and sold over $50 million in EPA, IRA, and USDA credits and payments for producing biofuels that he, in fact, did not produce and, in many instances, had never possessed in the first place.  DOJ

July 22, 2020

Tony Garrett Taylor has been sentenced to 8 years in prison and ordered to pay over $6 million to the North Carolina Medicaid program and over $1 million to the IRS after pleading guilty to committing healthcare fraud and tax evasion.  Along with his brother, Jerry Lewis Taylor, the defendant conspired to use outpatient behavioral health services companies owned and operated by the brothers to submit false claims to Medicaid for services that were either never provided or misrepresented.  Jerry Lewis Taylor has also pleaded guilty and is currently awaiting sentencing.  AG NC

April 30, 2020

Israel-based Bank Hapoalim, together with its Swiss and other subsidiaries, will pay nearly $875 million and plead guilty to charges that it conspired with U.S. taxpayers and others to conceal $7.6 billion in thousands of Swiss and Israeli bank accounts from the Internal Revenue Service and other U.S. government entities, including New York State.  As part of its plea, the bank admitted that it assisted U.S. customers in setting up secret accounts, sheltering assets and income, and evading taxes.  The total payment by bank entities consists of $216.8 million in restitution to the IRS, $160.3 million in forfeiture, federal penalties of $239.8 million, $37.4 million in civil monetary penalties to the Federal Reserve System, and $220 million in penalties to the New York State Department of Financial Services.   As part of a deferred prosecution agreement, the bank will cooperate with ongoing investigations and disclose information regarding U.S.-related accounts. The bank simultaneously entered into a separate settlement agreement regarding money laundering with respect to the FIFA bribery investigation. DOJ; USAO SDNY; NY.

April 9, 2020

Auction house Christie’s Inc. and its affiliates will pay up to $16.7 million and enter into a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve claims arising from their failure to register to collect and to collect New York state and local taxes on purchases made in and/or delivered to New York between 2013 and 2017, despite having a legal obligation to do so. DANY