Tuesday, December 18, 2018

US Files First Criminal Charges Over "Panama Papers" Money Laundering Scheme

Panama Papers US Charges - The Clients
Image from ICIJ

The Panama Papers, published 18 months ago, exposed a system that enables crime, corruption and wrongdoing, hidden by secretive offshore companies and used by rich and famous from all over the world.
United States authorities have charged four men, including two former Mossack Fonseca employees, with money laundering and fraud, the Department of Justice announced today. There are interesting information emerging from this case, ICIJ reports.

From Department of Justice
Four individuals have been charged in an indictment unsealed today in the Southern District of New York with wire fraud, tax fraud, money laundering and other offenses in connection with their alleged roles in a decades-long criminal scheme perpetrated by Mossack Fonseca & Co. (“Mossack Fonseca”), a Panamanian-based global law firm, and related entities.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman for the Southern District of New York, Chief Don Fort of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), and Special Agent in Charge Angel M. Melendez of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York made the announcement today.

Ramses Owens, 50, a Panamanian citizen; Dirk Brauer, 54, a German citizen; Richard Gaffey, 74, a U.S. citizen, of Medfield, Massachusetts; and Harald Joachim Von Der Goltz, 81, a German citizen, have been charged in an 11-count indictment.  Owens, Gaffey and Von Der Goltz are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit tax evasion, one count of wire fraud, and one count of money laundering conspiracy.  Owens and Brauer have been charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.  Gaffey and Von Der Goltz are additionally charged with four counts of willful failure to file an FBAR.  Von Der Goltz has been additionally charged with two counts of making false statements.

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