IRS Offshore Assets Sting

[Lee B]

"Houston tax lawyer Carlos Kepke had been tutoring rich Americans like Robert F. Smith for decades on how to move assets offshore when an undercover agent posing as a bar owner turned up in 2018.

The goal was to gather evidence for a tax fraud case against Kepke. It wasn’t hard. As the wired agent recorded the conversation, Kepke bragged about placing assets in offshore trusts, notably in the Central American nation of Belize. Clients move money and claim to yield control, in keeping with federal law. But they decide how it’s used, not the foreign trustees.

“You never lose control,” Kepke assured his visitor. “You’re just playing with bank accounts.”

That assurance, and others like it, are spelled out in a newly public affidavit in Kepke’s case. It sheds light on the Internal Revenue Service’s two-decade pursuit of Kepke, a player in the global network of lawyers, accountants and financial advisers who help hide billions of dollars in offshore money havens. And it opens a rare window into how the schemes function."

https://www.accountingtoday.com/articles/the-sting-that-snagged-the-tax-lawyer-to-a-pair-of-billionaires?position=editorial_2&campaignname=ACT Tax Practice-07122022&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=V2_ACT_TaxProToday_20210503%2B'-'%2B07122022&bt_ee=xGJK6MJlr5NSrROCOhZxHw4kjEiAXC9BJC9wqB1NCub4vbjFD3qqroDEE2tRpKrj&bt_ts=1657641643456

[Lee B]

I guess getting advice like this is very expensive. Supposedly his fee for helping was $ 1 Million