By Martha Graybow
NEW YORK, June 9 (Reuters) - Seven people, including a former chief of accounting firm BDO Seidman and lawyers at defunct law firm Jenkens & Gilchrist, were indicted on Tuesday on charges of promoting illegal tax shelters for rich clients that generated more than $7 billion in phony tax losses.
The case is part of a larger investigation by the U.S. government into unlawful tax shelters. A former BDO Seidman vice chairman, Charles Bee, pleaded guilty last week in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to tax shelter fraud, and others have also entered guilty pleas.
The new 27-count indictment was announced by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan and the Internal Revenue Service.
The seven defendants were all charged with conspiracy to defraud the IRS. Several were also charged with tax evasion and impeding the functioning of the IRS.
The defendants include Denis Field, 51, of Naples, Florida, a former CEO and chairman of BDO Seidman. His attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.
Also charged were a former tax partner at BDO Seidman, three lawyers at Jenkens & Gilchrist, which shut down in 2007 after admitting it promoted fraudulent tax shelters, and two former bankers from an unspecified foreign bank.
The defendants are accused of creating and marketing fraudulent tax shelters from 1994 through 2004 that were used by rich individuals to unlawfully eliminate or cut their tax bills.
(Reporting by Martha Graybow; Editing Bernard Orr) Keywords: TAXSHELTERS/INDICTMENTS (martha.graybow@thomsonreuters.com; +1-646-223-6133; Reuters Messaging: martha.graybow.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
NEW YORK, June 9 (Reuters) - Seven people, including a former chief of accounting firm BDO Seidman and lawyers at defunct law firm Jenkens & Gilchrist, were indicted on Tuesday on charges of promoting illegal tax shelters for rich clients that generated more than $7 billion in phony tax losses.
The case is part of a larger investigation by the U.S. government into unlawful tax shelters. A former BDO Seidman vice chairman, Charles Bee, pleaded guilty last week in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to tax shelter fraud, and others have also entered guilty pleas.
The new 27-count indictment was announced by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan and the Internal Revenue Service.
The seven defendants were all charged with conspiracy to defraud the IRS. Several were also charged with tax evasion and impeding the functioning of the IRS.
The defendants include Denis Field, 51, of Naples, Florida, a former CEO and chairman of BDO Seidman. His attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.
Also charged were a former tax partner at BDO Seidman, three lawyers at Jenkens & Gilchrist, which shut down in 2007 after admitting it promoted fraudulent tax shelters, and two former bankers from an unspecified foreign bank.
The defendants are accused of creating and marketing fraudulent tax shelters from 1994 through 2004 that were used by rich individuals to unlawfully eliminate or cut their tax bills.
(Reporting by Martha Graybow; Editing Bernard Orr) Keywords: TAXSHELTERS/INDICTMENTS (martha.graybow@thomsonreuters.com; +1-646-223-6133; Reuters Messaging: martha.graybow.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.