My July 11th "Asset Search News Roundup" mentioned that U.S. prosecutors were investigating HSBC since some U.S. taxpayers were suspected of using foreign HSBC bank accounts to facilitate tax frauds. Swiss prosecutors meanwhile, are separately investigating whether former HSBC employees Hervé Falciani and Georgina Mikhael had illegally accessed bank customer information at HSBC in
Tracking Trevor Cook’s Assets Across U.S.-Swiss Borders
A frequently asked questions Web page published by the Financial Action Task Force discusses multilateral initiatives and states: “Large-scale money laundering schemes invariably contain cross-border elements.” The Trevor Cook receiver undoubtedly recognizes the foregoing because he is tracking receivership estate assets across international borders, on behalf of investors damaged by Ponzi schemer and securities fraudster Trevor Cook.
Among other things, the Cook receiver is trying to interdict assets which may have been laundered through Mr. Cook’s purchase of real property in Canada and Panama and by Mr. Cook’s transfer of funds into Swiss bank accounts. Swiss authorities have already frozen a one million dollar bank account at UBS AG connected to Mr. Cook, on the ground of suspected money laundering.
Swiss authorities probably froze this bank account by relying on anti-money laundering legislation including Art. 305bis of the Swiss Criminal Code. Art. 305bis says in part:
“Whoever commits an act suited to frustrate the determination of the origin, the discovery or the confiscation of assets that he knows or should know derive from a crime, shall be punished with imprisonment or a fine“Continue Reading Tracking Trevor Cook’s Assets Across U.S.-Swiss Borders
Asset Search News Roundup: June 16, 2010
The financial fraud investigation connected to Minneapolis money manager Trevor Cook is thought to have widened; Andrew B. Silva is sentenced in Virginia for tax fraud; and the delay in disclosing the names of some UBS AG bank customers:
- “FBI now is investigating Trevor Cook’s associates” reports that governmental authorities have broadened their
A Primer For Gathering Financial Intelligence
A successful asset search often requires gathering financial intelligence. One financial investigator sought financial intelligence by doing “trash pulls”. This investigator did trash pulls at an attorney’s home to elicit intelligence about the attorney’s client. During one of these trash pulls, an envelope bearing the name of a climate-controlled art storage facility was discovered. This
Asset Search News Roundup: April 21, 2010
This "Asset Search News Roundup" concentrates on an alleged $45 million dollar tax fraud and the conviction of Mr. Dennis Hecker’s girlfriend, Christi Michele Rowan:
- An April 15th press release explained that property developers Mauricio Cohen Assor and his son, Leon Cohen-Levy are accused of hiding $45 million from the IRS by using nominees to
An Ex-Watch Manufacturer & His Nominee Bank Accounts
Bank customers sometimes hide their assets offshore in nominee bank accounts located in high-risk geographical locations like Switzerland. One such bank customer was ex-watch manufacturer Jack Barouh of Golden Beach, Florida. As a February 4, 2010 press release basically explained, Mr. Barouh was accused of hiding undeclared revenue from the IRS during an abusive offshore tax avoidance scheme at UBS AG and other foreign banks.
Mr. Barouh’s scheme could have stared in 1976 when he first transferred skimmed monies from his U.S. watch businesses to foreign accounts at UBS of Switzerland. He reportedly carried out his scheme with the help of two Swiss money managers and a Swiss attorney. One of these Swiss money managers had even supposedly misappropriated some of Mr. Barouh’s undeclared revenue, although Mr. Barouh may have eventually recovered this revenue via a settlement.
The Swiss attorney and money managers are believed to have opened Mr. Barouh’s nominee bank accounts and / or had been directors of Mr. Barouh’s foreign companies. These foreign companies were formed in Panama, the British Virgin Islands and Hong Kong and had reportedly been used to open Mr. Barouh’s nominee bank accounts in Switzerland or Hong Kong. Despite all of the foregoing, the IRS was able to detect Mr. Barouh’s undeclared revenue in his nominee bank accounts.Continue Reading An Ex-Watch Manufacturer & His Nominee Bank Accounts
A Doctor, A Lawyer & Bricks Of Cash In Switzerland
“Smuggling Cash Across Iraq’s Borders” mentioned Donnie the former DEA agent who had trained Iraqi border personnel to interdict bulk-cash smugglers. To help detect these smugglers, governmental authorities also use declaration forms to track the cross-border movement of cash and monetary instruments.
As mentioned by my April 13, 2009 “Asset Search News Roundup“, one such declaration form is the “FinCen 105”. It generally requires disclosure to the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, when individuals physically transport, mail or ship more than $10,000 in cash or monetary instruments into the U.S.:
(To View The Complete Form, Click On The Image)
To avoid triggering the mandatory filing of a FinCen 105, Virginia medical doctor Andrew Silva had illegally structured cash by smuggling it in packages containing less than $10,000. During an abusive offshore tax avoidance scheme, Dr. Silva mailed these packages of cash from Switzerland into the U.S., as outlined by his “statement of facts” filed in U.S.A. v. Andrew B. Silva.Continue Reading A Doctor, A Lawyer & Bricks Of Cash In Switzerland
Asset Search News Roundup: February 7, 2010
The Wall Street Journal’s February 4, 2010 article "Switzerland Freezes Freed Duvalier Assets", is about alleged illicit assets blocked in Switzerland. The blocked assets have been maintained in Swiss bank accounts and are believed to originate from Haiti’s public coffers. These public coffers were reportedly looted by former politically exposed person Jean-Claude "Baby
Customer Identification At UBS AG And Some Other Banks
By using customer identification or “know your customer” rules, banks try to prevent money laundering and other financial frauds. This use of customer identification rules by banks is contemplated at the Fifth Recommendation of the Financial Action Task Force. The Fifth Recommendation urges banks to diligently verify a customer’s identity and to record the true beneficial ownership of bank accounts.
As reported at “Fighting Financial Fraud At UK Banks“, the UK changed its banks’ “know your customer” rules on December 15, 2007, by codifying them at Money Laundering Regulations 2007*. U.S. banks too verify customer identities, but do so pursuant to 31 C.F.R Part 103.121. Lawsuits alleging that two U.S. banks had failed to sufficiently identify their bank customers, are respectively described at: “Associated Bank Sued For Supposedly Ignoring Red Flags” and “Lawsuit Claims Wachovia Bank Facilitated Alleged Ponzi Scheme“.
UBS AG and other Swiss banks also require customer identification at the time a bank account is opened. The customers of Swiss banks execute a declaration of beneficial ownership, commonly referred to as a “Form A”. A July 13, 2001 “Form A” was used in the U.S. tax fraud case brought against Florida yacht broker Robert Moran. According to the Plea Agreement in Mr. Moran’s case, the July 13th “Form A” helped demonstrate that Mr. Moran had violated 26 U.S.C. § 7206 (1), (perjury on a return / false statements).Continue Reading Customer Identification At UBS AG And Some Other Banks
Asset Search News Roundup: January 15, 2010
The Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists is a private sector anti-money laundering credentialing organization and Colby Adams is a reporter affiliated with it. Mr. Adams telephoned me this week to discuss my thoughts about abusive offshore tax avoidance schemes and The "John Doe" Summons Case, which was settled with UBS AG.
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