The IRS thinks Florida businessman and Novatek CFO Mark Anthony Gyetvay, had hidden money offshore. The IRS believes Mr. Gyetvay secretly stashed as much as $93 million offshore in 2 Swiss bank accounts. On September 22, 2021 Mr. Gyetvay was indicted for suspected: tax fraud, failure to file FBAR’s, making false statements at the IRS’s Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures,  etc.  The gravamen of the indictment was that Mr. Gyetvay had hidden money offshore by supposedly:

  • Transferring money through multiple jurisdictions;
  • Maintaining foreign bank accounts in Switzerland; etc.
  • Forming shell companies in Belize and the British Virgin Islands, which Mr. Gyetvay apparently used to open 2 Swiss bank accounts;
  • & directing the 2 Swiss banks to withhold monthly bank account statements and other mailings, so they would not be sent to Mr. Gyetvay in the U.S.

Additionally, Mr. Gyetvay could have hidden money at Swiss banks by enlisting the help of his then-wife who had a Russian address / Russian passport. Mr. Gyetvay may have used his then-wife to declare that she was the true beneficial owner of the Swiss bank accounts at account opening documents known in Switzerland as “Form A’s.” Meanwhile, Mr. Gyetvay and not his then-wife, was the alleged true beneficial owner of the Swiss bank accounts. Swiss banks required their bank customers to declare beneficial ownership via “Form A’s,” as discussed at the legal memo available here, which my Swiss counsel wrote many years ago.

Copyright 2021 Fred L. Abrams