Man
Brought to U.S. in Tax Evasion Case
The
founder of a multinational organization that
allegedly helped hundreds of people evade U.S.
taxes through an offshore trust operation was
extradited from Costa Rica to face federal
charges, Justice Department officials said
Thursday.
Keith
Anderson, 61, was flown Wednesday night from
Costa Rica to Miami and had an initial court
appearance Thursday before a U.S. magistrate.
He had been in custody in Costa Rica since
February but had been fighting extradition to
the United States.
Anderson
is charged in Washington state and in
California in separate indictments with
conspiracy to defraud the United States and
conspiracy to commit money laundering. He is a
founder and leader of Anderson's Ark and
Associates, which federal authorities say
helped its clients evade millions of dollars
in income taxes.
Nine
other people, including Keith Anderson's
brother, Wayne Anderson, have already been
convicted in the case. Wayne Anderson was
sentenced Nov. 14 to 59 months in prison,
followed by three years' probation, and fined
$250,000 by a judge in Sacramento, Calif.
The
Washington state indictment against Keith
Anderson charges that Anderson's Ark helped
more than 1,500 clients obtain roughly $28
million in illegal tax refunds between 1998
and 2001. The California indictment says
Anderson and other company leaders laundered
about $370,000 through shell companies in
Costa Rica, the United States and other
European and Caribbean countries.
The
indictments say Anderson's Ark also handled
more than $50 million in clients' money, with
the money not spent as claimed but instead
wired to Costa Rica where it could be
withdrawn by clients using a debit card.
Anderson's
lawyer in Costa Rica, Moises Vincenzi, earlier
this year called the charges a "frame
up" by the U.S. government.
The
Justice Department and Internal Revenue
Service have been attempting to crack down on
use of offshore trusts and bank accounts to
evade billions of dollars in U.S. income
taxes. The charges brought in the Anderson's
Ark case were the result of a lengthy
undercover operation that could produce
further indictments, officials said.
|
