Tech Tycoon Facing ‘Largest-Ever Tax Charge’
Robert T. Brockman, an American software tycoon, has been “charged with using a web of Caribbean entities to hide $2 billion in income in what prosecutors called the largest U.S. tax case ever against an individual.”
A Bloomberg story said, “Robert T. Brockman, a Houston software tycoon, was charged with using a web of Caribbean entities to hide $2 billion in income in what prosecutors called the largest U.S. tax case ever against an individual.
“Brockman, 79, used a family charitable trust based in Bermuda and other offshore entities to hide assets from the Internal Revenue Service while failing to pay taxes, according to a 39-count indictment unsealed Thursday in federal court in San Francisco. Brockman was also charged with money laundering and other crimes.
“Prosecutors received help from Robert Smith, the CEO of Vista Equity Partners, who set up his private equity fund two decades ago with a $1 billion investment from Brockman’s trust structure.
“Brockman earned about $2 billion in capital gains made through his Vista investments, according to the indictment.
“The allegation of a $2 billion tax fraud is the largest-ever tax charge against an individual in the United States,” David Anderson, the U.S. attorney in San Francisco, said at a news conference.
“The indictment charges Brockman with crimes including money laundering, evidence tampering and destruction of evidence. He’s also charged with wire fraud for using intermediaries to manipulate debt securities at his company.
“Brockman used code names and encrypted emails to secretly manage the trusts, according to the indictment.”
The official statement said, “According to the indictment, Brockman, a resident of Houston, Texas, and Pitkin County, Colorado, used a web of offshore entities based in Bermuda and Nevis to hide from the IRS income earned on his investments in private equity funds which were managed by a San Francisco-based investment firm.
“As part of the alleged scheme, Brockman directed untaxed capital gains income to secret bank accounts in Bermuda and Switzerland. The indictment further alleges that to execute the fraud, between 1999 and 2019, Brockman took measures such as backdating records and using encrypted communications and code words to communicate with a co-conspirator, among other alleged actions.”
You can read the full story here on Bloomberg.
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