“Bitcoin Jesus” Charged with Tax Fraud

According to DoJ, an indictment was unsealed on April 30, 2024 charging Roger Ver, an early investor in bitcoins, with mail fraud, tax evasion and filing false tax returns. Ver was arrested this weekend in Spain based on the U.S. criminal charges. The United States will seek Ver’s extradition to stand trial in the United States.

According to the indictment, Ver formerly of Santa Clara, California, owned MemoryDealers.com Inc. and Agilestar.com Inc., two companies that sold computer and networking equipment. Starting in 2011, Ver allegedly began acquiring bitcoins for himself and his companies. He also allegedly avidly promoted bitcoins, even obtaining the moniker “Bitcoin Jesus.”

On Feb. 4, 2014, Ver allegedly obtained citizenship in St. Kitts and Nevis and shortly thereafter renounced his U.S. citizenship in a process known as expatriation. As a result of his expatriation, Ver allegedly was required under U.S. law to file tax returns that reported capital gains from the constructive sale of his world-wide assets, including the bitcoins, and to report the fair market value of his assets. 

He was also allegedly required to pay a tax, referred to as an “exit tax,” on those capital gains. By Feb. 4, 2014, Ver and his companies allegedly owned approximately 131,000 bitcoins that traded on several large exchanges for around $871 each. MemoryDealers and Agilestar allegedly held approximately 73,000 of those bitcoins.

Ver allegedly hired a law firm to assist him with his expatriation and to prepare his expatriation-related tax returns. Ver also allegedly hired an appraiser to value his two companies. 

Ver Allegedly Provided Or Caused To Be Provided False
Or Misleading Information To The Law Firm And
Appraiser That Concealed The True Number Of
Bitcoins He And His Companies Owned.

(Lying to Your Lawyer is a Waste of Your Money
and a Waste of His or Her Time!!!)

As a result, the law firm allegedly prepared and filed false tax returns that substantially undervalued the two companies and their 73,000 bitcoins and did not report that Ver owned any bitcoins personally.

The indictment further alleges that by June 2017, Ver’s two companies continued to own approximately 70,000 bitcoins. Around that time, Ver allegedly took possession of those bitcoins and in November 2017 sold tens of thousands of them on cryptocurrency exchanges for approximately $240 million in cash. 

Even though Ver was not then a U.S. citizen, he was still legally required to report to the IRS and pay tax on certain distributions such as dividends from MemoryDealers and Agilestar, which were U.S. corporations. Ver allegedly concealed from his accountant that he had received and sold MemoryDealers’ and Agilestar’s bitcoins that year. 

As a result, Ver’s 2017 individual income tax return did not report any gain or pay any tax related to the distribution of MemoryDealers’ and Agilestar’s bitcoins to him.

In total, Ver is alleged to have caused a loss to the IRS of at least $48 million.

Have an Unreported Crypto Currency?

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  Contact the Tax Lawyers at

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

Crypto Mixer Executives Arrested For Allegedly Participating In $2B of Illicit Transactions

According to Law360, New York federal prosecutors announced that they have arrested the co-founders of crypto mixing service Samourai Wallet over their operation of a crypto service that authorities say executed over $2 billion in unlawful transactions.

The unsealed indictment charges Samourai CEO Keone Rodriguez and Chief Technology Officer William Lonergan Hill with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business related to their roles in a business prosecutors say executed more than $100 million in money laundering transactions from dark web markets such as Silk Road and Hydra.

"While offering Samourai as a 'privacy' service, the defendants knew that it was a haven for criminals to engage in large-scale money laundering and sanctions evasion," the indictment said. "Indeed, as the defendants intended and well knew, a substantial portion of the funds that Samourai processed were criminal proceeds passed through Samourai for purposes of concealment."

While crypto mixers are privacy tools that can be used for lawful purposes, they are also favored by illicit actors because of their ability to obscure the path of funds. The services break down and batch crypto transactions to make the trail of transactions on the blockchain harder to follow.

According to federal prosecutors, Rodriguez and Hill developed, marketed and operated the Samourai mixing service as an unlicensed money transmitting business, earning millions of dollars in fees despite knowing criminals used the service for money laundering and sanctions evasion since its founding in 2015.

Authorities Highlighted Posts And Messages Allegedly From The Co-Founders Discussing
The Platform's Use By Russian Oligarchs And
Criminals Utilizing Online Black Markets, As
Well As Marketing Materials That Promoted
Its Services For "Illicit Activity."

Authorities arrested Rodriguez on Wednesday with plans for him to see a judge in the Western District of Pennsylvania on Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice said in its announcement. 

Hill was arrested in Portugal on Wednesday, and prosecutors will seek his extradition to face criminal charges in New York alongside Rodriguez. 

Together, the Charges Carry a Maximum Sentence of 25 Years!

Law enforcement also coordinated with Icelandic authorities to seize Samourai's web servers and domain, and served a seizure warrant on the Google Play Store to remove the mobile application for U.S. users.

Authorities have ramped up their scrutiny of crypto mixers in recent months, sanctioning multiple services, winning a conviction against the operator of the Bitcoin Fog mixer and pursuing a criminal case against the founder of Tornado Cash.

Have an Unreported Crypto Currency?

 Like Your Freedom? 

  Contact the Tax Lawyers at

Marini & Associates, P.A. 

for a FREE Tax HELP Contact us at:
www.TaxAid.com or www.OVDPLaw.com
or Toll Free at 888 8TAXAID (888-882-9243)

Grand Jury Adds 4 More Indictments In Alleged Abusive Trust Tax Scheme

On January30th 2024 we posted Two Men Indicted On Charges Of Peddling Abusive Trusts, where we discussed that two men promoted and sold abusive tax shelters for the last six years by instructing their clients to use sham trusts to hide business income and illegally deduct personal expenses such as family weddings, according to an indictment in a Colorado federal court in the case of U.S. v. Conner et al., case number 1:23-cr-00390, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

Larry Conner, who operated The Business Solutions Group from his home in Frisco, Texas, and Timothy McPhee, who operated Private Banking Concepts from his home in Estes Park, Colorado, told their clients the trust arrangement was legal, according to the indictment, unsealed On September 25, 2023.

The pair were charged with conspiring to defraud the government and multiple counts of helping clients prepare false tax returns. McPhee and his wife, Marcia Predmore, were also charged with evading their own federal income taxes by employing the abusive trust structure that McPhee is accused of promoting. 

Now According to Law360, a federal grand jury in Denver indicted four more people in connection with what prosecutors call a conspiracy to defraud the government in a multistate scheme to promote abusive tax shelters using sham trusts to hide business income and illegally deduct personal expenses such as family weddings.

According to a superseding indictment on April 24, 2024, one of those newly indicted, Roderick A. Prescott of California and Nevada, had agreed in 2003 to a permanent injunction barring him from promoting the so-called family or business trusts. In his role in the new scheme, for which Larry Conner of Texas and Timothy McPhee of Colorado were first indicted in September, Prescott used an alias to hide his injunction from clients, according to the new indictment.

Two others accused Suzanne Thompson of Montana and Weldon Wulstein of Nevada, ran bookkeeping and tax preparation businesses that helped the scheme's clients prepare false returns, assuring the clients that the shelters were legal ways to reduce tax liabilities, according to the indictment.

The fourth in the ring to be newly indicted is McPhee's wife, Marcia Predmore, who was accused in the original indictment of evading $2 million in federal income taxes with her husband by employing the abusive trust structure that he was accused of promoting.

All Four Were Charged With Conspiracy To Defraud
The U.S. And Helping Prepare False Tax Returns.

The indictment accused Prescott, Thompson and Wulstein of helping promote the scheme at seminars and workshops across the country, overseas and online. At some of those seminars Prescott taught about creating a "private family foundation" that was advertised as the last step in the shelter. He also directed clients to wire fees to the promoters' bank account, prosecutors said.

Thompson, who owned a bookkeeping service called The CFO Agency with offices in Montana and Wyoming, and Wulstein, who ran Wulstein Financial Services offering tax preparation from offices in Nevada and California, marketed their accounting and tax services at the seminars, according to court documents.

Predmore and McPhee additionally taught about the shelters under the name of a business they co-owned and ran out of their home in Colorado called Private Banking Concepts, the filings said.

Clients of the scheme were instructed to pay for personal expenses, including mortgage payments, dining costs and weddings, with money held in the trusts, prosecutors said. They were also told to direct assets including real estate and vehicles to the trusts to avoid the appearance of ownership and to avoid paying income taxes on capital gains from selling the assets.

The fraudulent federal tax filings cost the government tens of millions of dollars in tax losses, the indictment said.

Each defendant faces a maximum prison sentence of five (5) years for conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Conner, McPhee, Thompson and Wulstein additionally face up to three (3) years in prison for each count of assisting in the preparation of a false tax return. McPhee and Predmore face up to five (5) years in prison for each count of tax evasion.

Have An Abusive Trust?

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

 

IRS CONTINUES to Criminally Prosecutes Employers For Failure To Pay Withheld Payroll Taxes!

On Febuary 11, 2022 we posted IRS CONTINUES to Criminally Prosecutes Employers For Failure To Pay Withheld Payroll Taxes - As Promised! which lists multiple recent cases where the IRS Criminally prosecutes Employers for Failure To Pay Withheld Payroll Taxes. Since then we've had multiple blog posts of payroll tax prosecutions.

In September 2023 we found the following payroll tax prosecutions:

• Owner of Oregon Payroll Services Company Pleads Guilty to Employment Tax Scheme 09/01/2023 08:00 AM EDT An Oregon man pleaded guilty today to willfully failing to pay more than $24 million in payroll taxes owed to the IRS.

• Kansas Owner of Construction Firms Pleads Guilty to Employment Tax Scheme 09/01/2023 08:00 AM EDT  A Kansas woman pleaded guilty today to willfully failing to account for and pay over employment taxes to the IRS. 
• Owner of Kansas Metal Company Pleads Guilty to Employment Tax Scheme 09/01/2023 08:00 AM EDT A Kansas man pleaded guilty today to willfully failing to pay federal employment taxes.

This is further reinforced by Department of Justice’s Tax Division's statement that Civil and criminal employment tax enforcement is their highest priority.

 Thinking of Borrowing From Your Company's
Payroll Tax Withholdings?

You Better Thank Again, if You Like Your Freedom!

 Have Payroll Tax Problems?

 

 Contact the Tax Lawyers at
Marini & Associates, P.A. 

for a FREE Tax HELP Contact Us at:
www.TaxAid.com or www.OVDPLaw.com
or Toll Free at 888-8TaxAid (888-882-9243) 

IRS Plans More Employment Tax Audits

According to Thompson Reuters former senior litigation counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has stressed that since the IRS’ funding plan mentions more enforcement in areas that include employment taxes, businesses should start planning for audits "now." 

Funding . The Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law by President Joseph Biden on August 16, 2022, with a provision earmarking nearly $80 billion in funding for the IRS that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on April 4, 2023 will help ensure fair enforcement of federal tax laws. On April 6, 2023, new IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel and Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo held a conference to discuss the Service’s 10-year strategic operating plan for the massive financial support.

Employment tax audits part of plan. On page 74 of the 150-page plan, the IRS discusses developing enforcement approaches and compliance treatments for tax types including federal employment taxes by refining tools and processes for auditing key areas and using improved analytics to identify patterns of noncompliance. The plan notes that enforcement and compliance have been too low in employment tax, among other areas.

TIGTA report calls for audit improvements.  On February 13, 2023, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) released a report on the need for improvements to the employment tax examination process to increase taxpayer compliance and collection potential. The report explains that although employment tax workstreams are set up to focus on probable areas of noncompliance to show cases with a high potential for audit adjustments, the IRS does not have a computer program to prioritize employment tax returns.

The report made a handful of recommendations to the IRS, and now that the Service has funding that includes an estimated $4.8 billion for business system modernization and $25.3 billion for operations support, the employment tax audit process is likely to improve and may involve using more technology in selecting who will be subject to an examination. 

There are two steps that employers should take to prepare for an IRS employment tax audit. 

1. Is to make sure they have substantiation regarding an issue with the law so they can be prepared when the questions come from the IRS and 
2. To get advice from tax professionals on potential areas of concern where the IRS is likely to adopt scrutiny so you can prepare for it all.

What to do When Receiving a Notice

The IRS will typically send an audit notice indicating the type of audit, the scope of the audit, and the documentation required to support your payroll tax filings. It is crucial to take the time to review the notice and understand what is being requested so that you can provide the right information and documents. Start by gathering all the records and documentation related to your payroll taxes

Preparing for the Audit - Seeking Professional Help

When facing an audit, it is important to work with an experianced tax professional or lawyer who has expertise in dealing with the IRS and is familiar with the audit procedure. A professional tax advisor or lawyer can provide guidance on the types of records and documentation required by the IRS, help prepare and organize the necessary records, and ensure that all responses to the audit are accurate and timely.

Gathering necessary documentation is a crucial step in preparing for an IRS payroll tax audit. The IRS will request specific financial and payroll records that are relevant to the audit. It is important to gather all relevant records, including, but not limited to, the following:

• Payroll records
• Tax returns
• Bank account statements
• Pay stubs
• Payroll reports
• Any other financial records that pertain to the audit.

An IRS payroll tax audit is a complex process that can be stressful and time-consuming for business owners. However, understanding the steps involved in the process and seeking an experienced tax professional help can greatly reduce the burden.

 Have Payroll Tax Problems?

 

 Contact the Tax Lawyers at
Marini & Associates, P.A. 

for a FREE Tax HELP Contact Us at:
www.TaxAid.com or www.OVDPLaw.com
or Toll Free at 888-8TaxAid(888-882-9243) 

Fiscal '23 IRS Audits Resulted in $32B in Additional Taxes!

According to the 2023 IRS Data Book, the Internal Revenue Service closed nearly 583,000 tax return audits in fiscal year 2023, resulting in $31.9 billion of recommended additional tax after examination, the agency said in its annual data book. 

Of those closed examinations, nearly 13,500 taxpayers representing 2.3% of closed return audits and $19.5 billion in recommended additional tax disagreed with the IRS' assessment, according to the Data Book.

22.7 percent of exams were conducted in the field, yielding over $24.1 billion in additional recommended tax.

The remaining 77.3 percent of audits were conducted via correspondence, resulting in almost $7.8 billion of additional recommended tax.

Fiscal year 2023 was a transitional year for the agency because of the additional long-term funding it received under the Inflation Reduction Act, Internal Revenue Commissioner Danny Werfel said in the data book's introduction.

Have an IRS Tax Problem?

     Contact the Tax Lawyers at

Marini & Associates, P.A. 

for a FREE Tax HELP Contact us at:
www.TaxAid.com or www.OVDPLaw.com
or Toll Free at 888 8TAXAID (888-882-9243)