Monthly Archives: October 2018

On September 18, 2018 we posted, Former Swiss Banker Charged in $1.2 Billion Venezuelan International Money Laundering Operation where we discussed the former managing director and vice chairman of Julius Baer pleaded guilty on August 22, 2018, for his role in a $1.2 Billion international scheme to launder funds embezzled from Venezuelan state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA).

Matthias Krull, 44, a German national and Panamanian resident, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, on Aug. 22.  U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga of the Southern District of Florida sentenced Krull to: 

• Serve 120 months in prison,
• to be followed by 3years of supervised release. 
• to pay a fine in the amount of $50,000 and
• a forfeiture money judgment of $600,000.

As part of his plea, Krull admitted that in his position with the Swiss bank, he attracted private clients, particularly clients from Venezuela, to the bank.  In this role, Krull’s clients included Francisco Convit Guruceaga, who was indicted on money laundering charges on Aug. 16.  Krull’s clients also included three unnamed conspirators described in the Aug. 16 indictment.

Krull admitted that the conspiracy began in December 2014 with a currency exchange scheme that was designed to embezzle around $600 million from PDVSA, obtained through bribery and fraud and the conspirators’ efforts to launder a portion of the proceeds of that scheme.  By May 2015, the conspiracy had doubled in amount to $1.2 billion embezzled from PDVSA.  PDVSA is Venezuela’s primary source of income and foreign currency (namely, U.S. Dollars and Euros).  Krull joined the conspiracy in or around 2016, he admitted, when a co-conspirator contacted him to launder the proceeds of a PDVSA foreign-exchange embezzlement scheme.

Ultimately, Krull joined the conspiracy to launder $1.2 billion worth of funds that were embezzled from PDVSA, he admitted.  Krull and members of the money laundering conspiracy used Miami, Florida real estate and sophisticated false-investment schemes to conceal that the $1.2 billion was in fact embezzled from PDVSA.  Krull also admitted that surrounding and supporting these false-investment laundering schemes are complicit money managers, brokerage firms, banks and real estate investment firms in the United States and elsewhere, operating as a network of professional money launderers.

Krull’s co-conspirators indicted on Aug. 16 include former PDVSA officials, professional third-party money launderers and members of the Venezuelan elite, sometimes known as “boliburgués.”
An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

This case is the result of ongoing efforts by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force’s (OCDETF) “Operation Money Flight,” a partnership among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.  The OCDETF mission is to identify, investigate and prosecute high-level members of drug trafficking enterprises, bringing together the combined expertise and unique abilities of federal, state and local law enforcement.

Do You Have a Criminal Tax Problem?

 

 

Contact the Tax Lawyers of

Marini & Associates, P.A.    

 

for a FREE Tax Consultation contact us at:
www.TaxAid.com or www.OVDPLaw.com or

Toll Free at 888-8TaxAid (888) 882-9243

 

 

 

The Swiss Federal Tax Administration has disclosed details of 2,000,000 financial accounts to partner jurisdictions under the global rules for automatic exchange of information.  

Transmission of Data by Switzerland Took Place at the

Cyprus and Romania are currently excluded as they do not yet meet the international requirements on confidentiality and data security. Transmission of data to Australia and France is delayed, as these states could not yet deliver data to the FTA due to technical reasons. Similarly, the FTA has not yet received data from Croatia, Estonia and Poland. The other partner states have transmitted data to the FTA.
 
Currently, around 7,000 Reporting Financial Institutions (banks, trusts, insurers, etc.) are registered with the FTA. These institutions collected the data and transferred it to the FTA.

The exchanged information allows the cantonal tax authorities to verify whether taxpayers have correctly declared their financial accounts abroad in their tax returns.

The AEOI Will Now Take Place On A Yearly Basis.

In 2019, data from 2018 will be exchanged with around 80 partner states, provided these meet the requirements on confidentiality and data security. The OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (Global Forum) reviews the participating states' implementation of the AEOI.

 

 

Have Unreported Swiss Income?
 

 

Contact the Tax Lawyers of

Marini & Associates, P.A.    

 

for a FREE Tax Consultation contact us at:
www.TaxAid.com or www.OVDPLaw.com or

Toll Free at 888-8TaxAid (888) 882-9243

Sources:

According to DoJ, the former Chief Financial Officer of an Austin, Texas based company pleaded guilty today to willfully failing to pay over employment taxes to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

According to court documents, from 2010 to 2016, John Herzer was the CFO of AXO Staff Leasing (AXO), a professional employer organization.

Herzer handled all of the company’s finances and had final authority over which creditors to pay and when to pay them. Herzer was also responsible for collecting and paying to the IRS taxes withheld from AXO’s employees’ wages.

Despite this obligation, Herzer did not pay to the IRS AXO’s employment tax withholdings and instead used more than $4.9 million of those funds for his own benefit including paying personal expenses and transferring millions of dollars to his own bank accounts. 

A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled. Herzer faces a statutory maximum sentence of 5 years imprisonment, as well as a term of supervised release, restitution.

Contact the Tax Lawyers at 

Marini & Associates, P.A.
 

 

for a FREE Tax Consultation contact us at

www.TaxAid.com or www.OVDPLaw.com 

or Toll Free at 888-8TaxAid (888 882-9243)

 

 



 

According to the DoJ, a former special agent for the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation was sentenced to serve 51 months in prison for filing false tax returns, obstruction of justice, and stealing government money.

 

According to the evidence introduced at trial, Alena Aleykina, 45, who is also a Certified Public Accountant and holds a master’s degree in business administration, filed six false tax returns – three personal tax returns for years 2009, 2010, and 2011, and three in the names of trusts she created for years 2010 and 2011.  

 

• On her personal tax returns, Aleykina fraudulently claimed the head of household filing status, listed false dependents, and claimed deductions for education expenses to which she was not entitled.
• Aleykina also obtained a fraudulent legal separation decree from the California Superior Court for Yolo County so that she and her husband could claim rental real estate loss deductions to which they were not entitled. 
  

• Further, on a trust tax return, she falsely claimed to be paying wages to her mother and her sister to care for her son and father. 
• Additionally, Aleykina stole government funds and obstructed justice during the investigation. 
• She stole from the IRS’s Tuition Assistance Program, a program created to allow IRS employees to take job-related classes from local colleges and educational institutions.
• Aleykina falsely claimed to be taking English classes from a trust registered to her sister.
• As a result of these fake classes, Aleykina recieved $4,000 in tuition reimbursement from the Tuition Assistance Program.  

When criminal investigators approached Aleykina to retrieve her government laptop, Aleykina lied to the agents about the location of the laptop and deleted dozens of files from the computer after the agents left. 

The total loss to the government from Aleykina’s conduct is more than $50,000.

Aleykina was previously convicted in June after a two-week federal jury trial in the Eastern District of California of filing false tax returns, destroying records in a federal investigation, and theft of government money.

In addition to the term of prison imposed, Aleykina was also ordered to serve one year of supervised release and to pay $4,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). 

 Have a Tax Problem?

 

Contact the Tax Lawyers at 

Marini & Associates, P.A.

 

for a FREE Tax Consultation contact us at

www.TaxAid.com or www.OVDPLaw.com 

or Toll Free at 888-8TaxAid (888 882-9243)