Business Better Podcast Episode: Tax Audits, Investigations, and Global Enforcement - A Conversation with IRS Special Agent Jonathan Schnatz
The Presumption of Innocence Podcast: Episode 28 - Under the Microscope: Examining the Future of the ERC
The Presumption of Innocence Podcast: Episode 4 - Understanding the Employee Retention Credit
The Presumption of Innocence Podcast: Episode 2 - Avoid Falling Prey: The Dirty Dozen and Other Trending Tax Scams
Argentina: A Look at the Case of Lázaro Báez - Laundering the Proceeds of Corruption and Tax Fraud
Podcast: Cum-Ex Dividend Trade Investigations
Earlier this year the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) brought USA v. Ahlgren, its first crypto case with tax evasion allegations unrelated to another crime, demonstrating the DOJ’s willingness to pursue stand-alone crypto...more
Nick Ephgrave QPM was appointed as Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) back in September 2023. In his first speech he said he wants to reward whistleblowers. We take a look at the pros and cons of incentivising...more
Crypto’s two calling cards, decentralization and anonymity, can lead to abuses, such as money laundering and tax evasion. The U.S. Treasury has long combatted crypto money laundering...more
Could Artificial Intelligence (AI) increase the likelihood of an IRS audit in your future? How does the IRS use AI to identify US taxpayers who attempt to hide assets, under-report income or otherwise cheat the IRS? In...more
Binance to Pay Historic $4 Billion Fine - Binance Holdings Limited, the operator of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, agreed to pay $4.3 billion to resolve allegations that it violated the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)...more
Recent Government actions suggest that third-party promoters and potentially hundreds of taxpayers may be entering into abusive trust arrangements aimed at unlawfully eliminating or deferring federal income taxes....more
Arkansas Men Convicted in $18 Million Global Investment Fraud Conspiracy - A federal jury in the Western District of Arkansas convicted four men of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money...more
NY’s Almost There- Back in June of this year, New York’s legislature passed a bill that, if enacted, would create the first state-level public database with information regarding the ownership of limited liability...more
The first criminal prosecution of syndicated conservation easement promoters began on July 18, 2023, with the government laying out its case against defendants Jack Fisher, James Sinnott, and Clayton Weibel. A Department of...more
Recent Filings Shed Light on DOJ’s View of Supreme Court’s Recent FCA Ruling - On June 1, 2023, the US Supreme Court explained that an assessment of a defendant’s subjective beliefs — rather than what an objectively...more
Polsinelli’s Government Investigations and Tax attorneys continue to follow the well-known Fisher case, the Department of Justice’s ("DOJ") first criminal indictment related to syndicated conservation easements. Walter...more
Takeaways: ..2022 IRS Criminal Investigation Annual Report highlights significant prosecutions and identifies cryptocurrency as an area of top priority heading into 2023. ..Criminal Investigation Chief Jim Lee...more
On September 21, 2022, the New York State Attorney General Tish James filed a civil lawsuit against former President Donald Trump and the Trump organization alleging fraud and misrepresentation. The Complaint described a...more
Briefing Regarding FCA Circuit Split Continues Before The Supreme Court - In response to a recent DOJ filing, a hospice whistleblower claimed that the DOJ failed to substantiate its claim that circuit courts have similar...more
The Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division (IRS CI) is targeting tax preparers or the ones who prepare tax returns in 2022. IRS CI is focusing its efforts on tax preparers who underreport their clients’...more
Key Takeaways - ..Taxpayers could be criminally and civilly liable under state False Claims Act statutes for underreporting income linked to virtual currency. ..While the federal False Claims Act explicitly excludes tax...more
State and federal crypto and NFT-related enforcement actions continue to occupy the regulatory landscape with an apparent uptick coinciding with the issuance of The White House’s Executive Order in March (we discussed the...more
In the past month, state and federal prosecutors have separately charged the former CEO of Skyline Healthcare, Joseph Schwartz, with Medicaid and tax fraud. The criminal actions, which represent the latest legal action...more
On June 28, 2021, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California granted the Company’s Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss after an executive claimed he was discharged in violation of the Dodd-Frank...more
On August 11, 2021, Sheng-Wen Cheng was sentenced to 72 months in prison for his alleged participation in multiple schemes related to Covid-19 pandemic loan fraud and securities fraud. Taiwanese National, Self-Proclaimed...more
During a recent program discussing the latest government enforcement efforts related to cryptocurrency, we spoke with Gary Alford, one of the leading Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents in their crypto enforcement efforts,...more
Following the US Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) announcement of “Operation Hidden Treasure,” companies and individuals should prepare for increased scrutiny of virtual currency transactions. Unveiled in March, the operation...more
Big Tech quarterly earnings season kicked off this week, and Alphabet got things started with a massive $55B in revenue, up 34% from a year earlier thanks largely to a return of its online advertising business and “continued...more
Earlier this month, the District of Columbia Council passed an amendment to its False Claims Act, which extended the Act to include tax-related claims. Under the amended D.C. False Claims Act, violations may be alleged...more
U.S. Developments - Members of Congress Request SEC Clarity On Digital Securities Custody - On December 9, a bipartisan group of representatives penned a letter to SEC Chairman Jay Clayton regarding the issue of...more