Secreting Ponzi scheme proceeds and the conviction of three former money managers:

  1. “Secreting Assets Without A Border Trace” highlights methods determined criminals employ to conceal their assets from domestic authorities and everyone else.  It supplies the fact pattern of a securities fraudster who conceivably could have concealed Ponzi scheme proceeds by utilizing offshore jurisdictions, a foreign bank account and portable valuable commodities like diamonds.
  2. Former money managers Jason Bo-Alan Beckman, Gerald Joseph Durand and Patrick Kiley were recently convicted of money laundering and additional criminal charges connected to Trevor Cook’s Ponzi scheme.  These three were previously mentioned at the September 20, 2009 article “Money Laundering By Minneapolis Money Managers?“

Copyright 2012 Fred L. Abrams

At the New York City Bar Association, 42 West 44th Street New York, NY 10036, from 6:00 PM– 9:00 PM on September 27, 2012, Fred Abrams and distinguished lawyers Jack Blum and Jordan A. Thomas, will present “The Ins & Outs Of Recovering Assets Via Whistleblowers & Other Tipsters”.  This program first analyzes how vast sums of money can be hidden in cases as diverse as tax and securities fraud and divorce.

It then describes ways whistleblowers or other tipsters may help sniff out these monies and discusses: the problems whistleblowers face in the real world, the advantages and disadvantages of the different whistleblower programs, and the difficulty lawyers face in dealing with whistleblowers either as clients or as tipsters.

The program also focuses on the ethical concerns gatekeepers like attorneys, accountants, officers and directors have, in reporting illegal behavior in both the civil and criminal contexts.  Registration for this program is available through the City Bar Center for CLE, at Tel: (212) 382-6663 or register online at www.nycbar.org.

 

 

Copyright Fred L. Abrams 2012

Suspected drug kingpins and hiding assets by way of nominees.

  1. “Obama Slaps Sanctions On Alleged International Drug Traffickers“, notes that a letter by President Obama just deemed an  Albanian, Mexican national and an Afghani, as drug kingpins.  These supposed kingpins are Naser Kelmendi, Jose Antonio Soto Gastelum and Sayid Wzir Shar.  On June 1st, the Office of Foreign Assets Control added the three to its Specially Designated Nationals List, which freezes the assets of those it names.
  2. This Egmont Group money laundering typology demonstrates how a suspected terrorist fund raiser could have secretly transferred funds via two nominee bank accounts:

Case 06066, Courtesy of The Egmont Group

Copyright 2012 Fred L. Abrams

 

The bottom of p. 5 of this Wolfsberg Group Statement says money laundering risks include financial “[a]ccounts for ‘gatekeepers’ such as accountants, lawyers, or other professionals for their clients where the identity of the underlying client is not disclosed to the financial institution.“

It is therefore no surprise that assets hidden through laundering or otherwise, can end up in a gatekeeper’s account across the globe.  For example, a 2007 forfeiture complaint filed in United States, v. Proceeds of Crime Transferred to Certain Domestic Financial Accounts, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Index # 07-CV-21791, implicated gatekeeper / accountant Mr. Pierfrancesco Munari in an alleged conspiracy to launder hundreds of millions of dollars.

Although the hundreds of millions of dollars had reportedly originated from a judicial bribery scheme in Italy, these monies were allegedly washed by way of business entities and / or financial accounts in the United States; the British Virgin Islands; the Cayman Islands; Guernsey; Jersey; Switzerland; Luxembourg; Liechtenstein; Singapore; the Cook Islands and Costa Rica.

A November 16, 2007 settlement agreement indicated that Mr. Munari consented to the forfeiture of four of these financial accounts which were respectively maintained at Merrill Lynch and Citibank.  Blog posts which additionally mention gatekeepers are:

  1.  A Doctor, A Lawyer & Bricks Of Cash In Switzerland
  2. An Ex-Watch Manufacturer & His Nominee Bank Accounts
  3. Concealing Assets In More Than 150 Trusts?
  4. Asset Search News Roundup: February 6, 2012
  5. Asset Search News Roundup: February 19, 2012
  6. Red Flags In One Of Washington State’s Largest Bankruptcies
  7. Seattle’s Ubiquitous Asset Protection Lawyer, Ms. Mary Simon

Copyright 2012 Fred L. Abrams

Tipsters and protecting assets by going offshore–

“Good offshore planning takes your assets out of your control and puts them in a place that the U.S. government cannot reach. The U.S. only has jurisdiction over people or property located within the U.S. borders. When you move your assets to an entity that is offshore, you remove your property from U.S. control.”

 

Copyright 2012 Fred L. Abrams

Today’s “Asset Search News Roundup” relays the details of a likey abusive trust scheme and an Egmont Group link chart.

  • “Seattle’s Ubiquitous Asset Protection Lawyer, Ms. Mary Simon” outlines how an attorney was thought to have employed Belizean trusts as critical components in asset protection plans.  U.S.A. v. Arthur Lee Ong, U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii, 09-CR-00398 meanwhile, illustrates the probable abuse of domestic trusts in an effort to “protect” assets from the IRS.  As his superseding indictment shows, Mr. Ong was accused of secreting undeclared revenue in nominee bank accounts opened in the names of his two trusts, Magnum Investments Trust and Aloha Ventures.  Mr. Ong had also allegedly hidden rental properties by titling the same in the name of Aloha Ventures.
  • “Link Charts In An Asset Search” advises that a visual analysis of data may help one follow a money trail.  This kind of analysis is supplied by the link chart from page 13 of  the 2010-2011 Egmont Group Annual Report.¹  The link chart documents a money laundering circuit established by determined criminals.  As the link chart partly demonstrates, the criminals had transferred their illicit proceeds through multiple jurisdicitions, such as Spain, Greece and the Finnish cities of Helsinki and Tampere:

 

¹Link Chart & 2010-2011 Egmont Group Annual Report, Courtesy of The Egmont Group.

(Edited 5/19/12)

Copyright 2012 Fred L. Abrams

The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations August 1, 2006 report on offshore tax haven abuses explains that assets can be hidden with the assistance of  “lawyers, brokers, bankers, offshore service providers, and others” offering offshore asset protection.  Seattle lawyer Mary Simon appears to have especially provided offshore asset protection services that featured Belizean trusts.

As revealed by “Red Flags In One of Washington State’s Largest Bankruptcies”, Ms. Simon may have aided bankruptcy debtor Michael Mastro’s effort to protect assets by way of a Belizean trust.  Mr. Mastro had seemingly hidden assets in said Belizean trust and the Court ultimately deemed the Belizean trust assets, (and his assets at two other trusts), to be bankruptcy estate property.

This meant Mr. Mastro’s trust assets were subject to liquidation for the benefit of his unsecured creditors, as discussed by Mr. Mastro’s Bankruptcy Estate & His Self-Settled Trusts.  Besides surfacing at Mr. Mastro’s bankruptcy, Ms. Simon’s name popped up during U.S.A. v. Berg, the largest Ponzi scheme / fraud prosecution in Washington state history.  A November 30, 2010 sworn declaration filed in Berg, averred that Mr. Berg had conferred with Ms. Simon on the subject of an asset protection plan.

Although an August 3, 2010 letter purportedly signed by Ms. Simon, suggests the plan was never fully realized, Ms. Simon might have participated in the plans initial phase by allegedly starting the process for forming the “DB517” Belizean trust and the “DB517” Delaware company.  Documents reportedly linked to this Belizean trust and the Delaware company, were seized by FBI agents executing a search warrant on August 30, 2010 at Mr. Berg’s Seattle business office.  These documents can be viewed by clicking on the following image:

 

Copyright 2012 Fred L. Abrams

  1. Transparency International’s April 17th post “Who owns what? Trying to clean dirty money in the EU”,  highlights the importance of identifying the beneficial ownership of assets.  Among other things, it mentions Teodorin Nguema Obiang, who is a suspected kleptocrat.  A Wall Street Journal blog post meanwhile, describes the French arrest warrant concerning Nguema.
  2. Former Turks & Caicos Premier Michael Misick is another suspected kleptocrat who is the subject of a fresh arrest warrant.  Like Nguema, Mr. Misick’s warrant is reportedly over supposed corruption and alleged money laundering.  Asset Search Blog posts regarding Mr. Misick include:

Target Of Corruption Probe Sues Hip-Hoppers For Supposed Fraud

Could Former Premier Misick Face U.S. Forced Collection Proceedings?

New Jersey Lawsuit Involving Former Premier Misick Settles

The Former Premier’s Nexus To Hip Hop Weekly Magazine

The Actress, An Ex-Premier & Hip Hop Weekly Magazine

Copyright 2012 Fred L Abrams

 

Copyright 2012 Fred L. Abrams

The criminal complaint filed in U.S.A. v. Brandon Lee Price, U.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania, Case No. 12-152 M, essentially claims that Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen was the target of an identity theft.  As reported at “Identity Thief Targets Billionaire Allen”, suspected identity thief Brandon Lee Price of Pittsburgh supposedly tried to illegally transfer $15,000 from Mr. Allen’s Citibank account.

“Identity Thief Targets Billionaire Allen” raises the question of how identity thefts are carried out.  It observes that identity thieves might obtain a bank customer’s account information from the trash.  Armed with this type of information, the thieves then attempt to impersonate the bank customer and illegally access bank accounts.  The article indicates these thieves can employ spyware and computer hacking to steal personal information.  This kind of hacking was utilized by identity thief Albert Gonzalez, who was accused of stealing 130 million credit / debit cards by fraudulently accessing computers at Heartland Payment Systems.

Some bank tellers, medical office staff, etc., too illegally provide identity thieves with a prospective victim’s personal identifying information like social security numbers and dates of birth.  Determined identity thieves also carry out their crimes through forged documents, pretext calls, mail intercepts or by obtaining a corporate director’s personal information from public registries.

The following Asset Search Blog articles describe methods identity thieves employ:

  1. A Tax Fraud & Identity Theft From Miami
  2. Identity Theft & An Impersonator On The Phone
  3. Committing Bank Fraud Through Identity Thefts
  4. Concealing Cash By Laundering In Lithuania
  5. Pretexting During An Asset Search

Copyright 2012 Fred L. Abrams