A former U.S. resident became the first U.S. taxpayer to plead guilty to criminal tax charges arising out of the Panama Papers data leak. The Indictment charged Harald Joachim von der Goltz and three others, including a U.S. tax professional, with conspiracy to commit tax evasion, wire fraud, money laundering, and willful failure to file an FBAR, as well as …
Five recently unsealed indictments (here, here, here, and here) allege a massive ten-year conspiracy to defraud that involved FedEx Ground Package System, Inc. (“FedEx”) management/employees and several contractors. The conspiracy allegedly resulted in the wrongful payment of over $280,000,000 to the conspirators.[1] At the center of the conspiracy is FedEx Senior Line Manager Ryan Mower, who allegedly awarded contracts to conspirators …
The Justice Department recently announced revisions to the so-called “Yates” memo. The revisions, announced by Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein, represent significant changes to the Department’s white-collar enforcement policies and impact the Justice Manual’s policies with respect to corporate enforcement and individual accountability. The Yates memo, originally issued September 9, 2015, set forth DOJ policies with respect to …
18 U.S.C. § 1344 is commonly referred to as the bank fraud statute. It is used by the Department of Justice to prosecute “any scheme to defraud” a federal bank.[1]The scope of the phrase “any scheme” is broad; it has, for example, been used to prosecute check forging, check kiting, and embezzlement, among other things. Making misrepresentations to a bank – …
The much-anticipated decision in Bedrosian v. United States was released on Wednesday of this week, and it did not fail to disappoint—unless, of course, you find yourself on the latter side of the “v” in the case caption. The case presented a fundamental FBAR issue: was Bedrosian’s failure to report his foreign account “willful?” If it was, he would have …
In the past decade, government forfeitures through the Department of Justice’s Asset Forfeiture Program have ballooned to over $28 billion. The DOJ, which has authority to seize property associated with violations of federal law through a process known as asset forfeiture, views forfeiture as an important law enforcement tool. However, particularly because law enforcement officers generally have the authority to …
The FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) requires United States persons to report any foreign financial accounts in which the person has signatory authority or a financial interest if the total value of such accounts exceeds $10,000.[1] In 2004, the IRS obtained the ability to impose non-willful civil penalties against those persons that fail to report such foreign accounts. Prior to that, …
