Indianapolis 500 Winner and Two Others Indicted on Tax Evasion Scheme

[Blue_Tires]

WASHINGTON, Oct 02, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Helio Castroneves, a U.S. resident and two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, was indicted by a grand jury today on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States of income taxes and with six separate counts of income tax evasion for tax years 1999 through 2004, announced the Justice Department, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida R. Alexander Acosta and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Special Agent-in-Charge Michael E. Yasofsky Jr. Also charged in the indictment were Helio Castroneves' sister and business manager, Katiucia Castroneves of Miami, and his attorney, Alan R. Miller of Michigan.

Count one of the indictment charges Helio Castroneves, Katiucia Castroneves and Miller with conspiring to defraud the United States by using an offshore Panamanian shell corporation -- Seven Promotions Corporation (Seven Promotions) -- to fraudulently conceal from the IRS income received from two sources: Coimex Internacional SA (Coimex) and Penske Racing Inc. (Penske).

Count one alleges that Helio Castroneves entered into sponsorship contracts with Coimex, a Brazilian import and export company, for 1999, 2000 and 2001. Each year's contract required Coimex to pay Helio Castroneves $2,000,000. However, pursuant to an unwritten side agreement, Helio Castroneves returned $1,800,000 each year to certain Coimex executives, and kept $200,000 for himself. Of the $600,000 Helio Castroneves retained from the Coimex contracts, he reported only $50,000 on his federal income tax returns.

In regards to the Penske income, count one of the indictment alleges that Helio Castroneves joined Penske as a race car driver in November 1999, and that Miller negotiated the deal with Penske and drafted the resulting contracts. Under the terms of the contracts, Helio Castroneves' $6,000,000 three-year (2000, 2001 and 2002) compensation package would be split between a $1,000,000 driver agreement and a $5,000,000 licensing agreement. Pursuant to the licensing agreement, Seven Promotions was to receive the $5,000,000 in exchange for the licensing rights to Helio Castroneves' name, likeness and image. The indictment specifically alleges that Helio Castroneves, Katiucia Castroneves and Miller engaged in a scheme to avoid paying taxes on the $5,000,000 in licensing agreement income by creating a "deferred royalty plan" that required Penske to send the $5,000,000 payment to an offshore company -- Fintage Licensing B.V. (Fintage) -- in the Netherlands, instead of to Seven Promotions.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/indianapolis-500-winner-two-others/story.aspx?guid=%7B9A96B909-6F17-4359-8066-26EEA28BEF14%7D&dist=hppr

[Droopy]

1. I could probably make $600,000 less taxes last a lifetime

What the fuck were these people thinking?

[Blue_Tires]

2. that only working stiffs have to pay taxes, evidently

[jmowreader]

3. The article's got a rather inane quote from a government official

Said Attorney Acosta, "whether one makes a living parking cars of racing them, paying taxes is a responsibility that everyone shares."

Somehow I have this real strange feeling that if someone made $25,000 a year parking cars (possible, if you park cars for a ritzy restaurant and live on tips), it would cost more to prosecute you than they'd get from doing it. OTOH, if you make $6 million a year racing them, they'd really be interested in going after you.

[Blue_Tires]

4. i'm just impressed they are going after a big fish

you will remember when bush first took over, he kneecapped the investigative office of the irs because there was so much attention at that time on the wealthy using the cayman islands to hide money...

fwiw a paperwork mistake meant i owed $280 in taxes to the state of maryland -- this was when i was making 25k/yr before taxes... The state called constantly, and mailed me notices and threats weekly...