I) PANAMÁ OFFSHORE LEGAL SERVICES

You won’t have an easy asset search if your adversary hires a Nominee Incorporation Service, (“NIS”), to hide assets from you. A NIS helps its customers establish corporations &/or other entities. In The Matter Of The Tax Liabilities Of John Does, prosecutors essentially alleged the Panamanian law firm known as Panama Offshore Legal Services, (“POLS”), was a NIS.  According to prosecutors, taxpayers had used offshore services offered by POLS to commit tax fraud.

II) THE JOHN DOE SUMMONSES

Therefore, In The Matter Of The Tax Liabilities Of John Does, prosecutors argued in court that the IRS needed John Doe summonses. The IRS could use the John Doe summonses to identify taxpayers who had hidden money via POLS, the prosecutors said. Prosecutors asked the Court to allow the IRS to serve the John Doe summonses on: Federal Express Corporation; FedEx Ground Package System, Inc.; DHL Express; United Parcel Service, Inc.; the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; The Clearing House Payments Company LLC; HSBC Bank USA, N.A.; Citibank, N.A.; Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.; and Bank of America, N.A.

To support their request for the John Doe summonses, prosecutors filed a May 4, 2021 declaration in court. The May 4th declaration was signed by an IRS Internal Revenue Agent who worked for The Offshore Compliance Initiatives Program. Page 17 ¶41 of the May 4th declaration said:

POLS is an entity that provides multi-jurisdictional offshore services in the form of comprehensive entity formation and legal and management services for clients wanting to use Panamanian entities to conceal their ownership of assets, to establish bank accounts in Panama, and to invest in Panamanian real estate.

III) SOME SERVICES POLS OFFERED

Additionally, the May 4th declaration seemed to indicate that taxpayers could have used the following services offered by POLS, to hide assets from the IRS:

IV) CONCLUSION

On July 15, 2021, the Court issued its order allowing the IRS to serve the John Doe summonses concerning POLS.  As all of the above-mentioned suggests, you won’t have an easy asset search if your adversary hides assets from you by hiring a NIS like POLS. However, learning the ways your adversary could use a NIS, might help you recognize your adversary’s methods for hiding assets. Once you recognize your adversary’s methods for hiding assets, you can consider the legal remedies available to you for recovering assets from your adversary.

Copyright 2021 Fred L. Abrams