A divorcing spouse; judgment debtor; tax cheat; etc. may use several methods to conceal assets. “Red Flags For An Asset Search” listed 18 of these methods. The methods for hiding assets included: bulk-cash smuggling; shell companies; multiple jurisdictions; foreign bank accounts; & nominees. These methods might have been combined by Mr. Victor Lipukhin to conceal more than $10 million dollars in secret Swiss bank accounts. The press release “Former President of Russian Steel Producer’s U.S. Subsidiary Indicted for Hiding Assets in Secret Swiss Bank Accounts,” talked about Mr. Lipukhin’s alleged scheme to hide assets from the IRS.
Mr. Lipukhin was indicted on 3/20/2014 because of the suspected scheme. The indictment suggests Mr. Lipukhin may have employed bulk-cash smuggling; multiple jurisdictions; shell companies; & other methods to conceal his alleged beneficial ownership of Swiss bank accounts. Mr. Lipukhin is thought to have initially formed shell companies in the Bahamas which he allegedly used to open the Swiss bank accounts. Mr. Lipukhin might have hired a nominee director for the shell companies, who could have acted as a bank signatory on the Swiss bank accounts.
If Mr. Lipukhin used a nominee director, it would have helped hide his suspected beneficial ownership of the Swiss accounts. According to the indictment, Mr. Lipukhin supposedly relied on real estate transactions; mortgages & a Canadian lawyer to hide assets. Mr. Lipukhin also reportedly bought an automobile by paying approximately $24,539 in cash. Although the seller of the automobile was required to notify the IRS by filing a Form 8300, Mr. Lipukhin allegedly tried to persuade the seller to keep quiet about the sale. If this actually happened, it would have been a red flag that Mr. Lipukhin might have engaged in bulk-cash smuggling or money laundering. The criminal case against Mr. Lipukhin is still pending at the prosecutor’s office, as the Court’s docket report reveals.
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Copyright 2016 Fred L. Abrams