ATLANTA,GA
DULUTH, GA
When improprieties occur with hedge funds, the hedge funds’ lack of transparency and dearth of disclosure obligations make violations of the law difficult to uncover. Sometimes, persons in the hedge fund industry report those abuses through the IRS Whistleblower Program, as some of our IRS Whistleblower clients have done.
Nonetheless, the hedge fund industry remains cloaked in secrecy, frustrating experts who now seek to gauge the impact of hedge funds on the current financial crisis.
(more…)When the Wall Street “bailout” grew with Congress’ creation of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), Sen. Chuck Grassley emphasized the importance of “whistleblowers” and the False Claims Act to protecting these taxpayer funds from fraud and abuse.
Tonight, the House added to the bailout by passing the economic stimulus package, HR 1, and approved an amendment adding whistleblower protection for federal employees.
(more…)Financial fraud is a frequent topic of whistleblower cases and of this whistleblower lawyer blog, especially with TARP and the Wall Street “bailout” dominating headlines.
Senators Chuck Shumer and Richard Shelby have proposed a bipartisan bill to bolster federal resources to combat securities fraud and accounting fraud, the Supplemental Anti-Fraud Enforcement (“SAFE”) Markets Act.
Here are excerpts from the Senators’ announcement:
“Our white collar crime divisions are under-staffed, under-funded, and overwhelmed,” Schumer said. “When a wave of violent crime sweeps through a city,
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As our government hemorrhages its taxpayers’ funds to “bail out” firms that made poor decisions–such as American International Group (AIG), Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and American Express–a just-issued report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) raises a disturbing question: have many of the same firms already been avoiding paying their “fair share” of U.S. taxes by using offshore tax “havens”?
If so, whistleblowers will be performing a civic duty by reporting any tax evasion and noncompliance through the IRS Whistleblower Program.
(more…)Offshore tax evasion and international tax avoidance schemes have been priorities of the IRS and its IRS Whistleblower Program, as our whistleblower lawyer blog has followed repeatedly.
This week, the U.S. prosecution of the former head of UBS AG’s wealth management business, Raoul Weil, took a strange turn as he failed to surrender himself and was declared a fugitive. Weil allegedly conspired to help 17,000 American taxpayers conceal approximately $20 billion of assets in Swiss accounts, to avoid payment of U.S. taxes.
(more…)The IRS Large and Midsize Business Division (LMSB) has published a new memorandum on how it will handle IRS Whistleblower claims, the process for citizens to report tax fraud, tax evasion, and other tax noncompliance–and share in the government’s recovery of money. (https://www.irs.gov/pub/foia/ig/lmsb/lmsb-4-1108-052.pdf).
The LMSB Division has responsibility over corporations, subchapter S corporations, and partnerships with assets greater than $10 million. This IRS Division is divided by industry groups, including (1) Communications, Technology, and Media; (2) Financial Services; (3) Heavy Manufacturing and Transportation;
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Much criticism has flowed from how the first $350 billion in TARP “bailout” funds are being used. Thus far, the need for additional restrictions to prevent and penalize fraud and abuse of TARP money remains unmet.
In response, yesterday House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank proposed legislation establishing greater limits on use of TARP funds, among other things.
The “TARP Reform and Accountability Act of 2009” (HR 384) would require quarterly reports from recipients on their use of TARP funds, restrict the use of
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With tax season approaching, the IRS has alerted the public to “tax preparer fraud” by issuing issued a “fact sheet” (at https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=202123,00.html). The IRS also has attached information about reporting abusive tax schemes through the IRS Whistleblower Program, which provides rewards to whistleblowers.
Interestingly, the IRS has included descriptions of some of the tax fraud and tax evasion schemes that have caused courts to issue “more than 290 permanent injunctions against abusive tax scheme promoters and abusive return preparers since 2001.”
The summary by the IRS is reprinted below:
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The Treasury Department last week issued its December 2008 report to Congress on what it has done with the “bailout” funds through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and Capital Purchase Program (CPP). With more than 200 institutions receiving taxpayer money, an overriding question is how to prevent and redress the inevitable fraud and abuse of TARP and other taxpayer funds, through whistleblowers and other means.
Treasury reported that, as of December 31, 2008, it had invested $177.5 billion in more than 200 U.S. financial institutions. As discussed previously on the whistleblower lawyer blog, Treasury recounted its announced assistance to General Motors and GMAC, as part of the Automotive Industry Financing Program (AIFP).
(more…)The TARP bailout funding continues, as the Treasury Department announced today that it will buy $5 billion in senior preferred equity with an 8% dividend from GMAC LLC.
Senator Charles Grassley has emphasized that TARP and other “bailout” funds must be protected through whistleblower protections and whistleblower laws such as the False Claims Act. The GMAC announcement today will present ample opportunities to test those premises on which Congress approved the bailout funding.
The Treasury announcement is reprinted below:
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