In 2014 the offshore financial services firm Strachans S.A. voluntrarily disclosed to U.S. authorities that Strachans had helped some U.S. taxpayers hide assets and income from the IRS. Therefore, prosecutors in U.S.A v. Strachans S.A. IN Liquidation accused Strachans of conspiring to defraud the United States as contemplated by 18 U.S.C. § 371. Based on the prosecutors’ August 19, 2020 criminal information, the conspiracy with the U.S. taxpayers occurred from about 1987 to about November 2014. This tax fraud conspiracy also seemed to involve about 90 U.S. taxpayers. In August 2020 Strachans signed a plea deal and on October 5, 2020 the Court sentenced Strachans to pay a $500,000 fine.
The plea deal’s Statement of Facts is available below. It reveals with Strachans’ help, U.S. taxpayers could hide their true beneficial ownership of assets. Strachans hid beneficial ownership / hid assets by employing common concealment methods. I have discussed the common concealment methods at the Asset Search Blog since I first published it in 2007. The common methods Strachans is thought to have utilized to hide assets included:
- Foreign bank accounts in places like the Bailiwick of Jersey; United Kingdom and Switzerland
- Nominees / strawpersons
- Offshore Trusts
- Shell Companies
- Back-to-Back or Other Sham Loans
- Offshore Post Office Boxes
- Bulk-Cash Smuggling
- Offshore Credit Cards
First Image: Pixelbliss / Shutterstock.com
Copyright 2020 Fred L. Abrams