Five U. S. attorneys/CPAs convicted in Cayman-based tax evasion scheme
Three CPAs and two attorneys in the United States are awaiting sentencing for their involvement in an offshore tax evasion scheme that ran from 1996 to 2005 and helped approximately 75 U. S. taxpayers deprive the Internal Revenue Service of an estimated $20 million in unpaid taxes. The scheme's masterminds were paid a fee for their services that was typically equal to 30% of the tax evaded by their clients, stated prosecutors.The scheme included the use of shell companies in the Cayman Islands and Nevis, including a sham media entity and a sham insurer, that were managed by Cayman-based management firms Zephyr International Ltd., whose Managing Director was Lewis Denton Rowe, and/or International Corporation Services Ltd., which is the corporate management company of law firm Myers and Alberga, according to filings at the U. S. District Court for the District of Utah. Offshore bank accounts were allegedly provided by the Bank of Bermuda and Butterfield Bank, both in Cayman.