Prosecutors say quartet went to ‘extraordinary lengths to circumvent US tax laws’ to boost the wealth of their clients
Four men have been criminally charged in the US government’s investigation into the findings of the Panama Papers, the leaked files from the offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca.
Prosecutors in New York said the four men, including an attorney and an investment manager who worked for the company, have been charged with wire fraud, tax fraud, money laundering, and other crimes.
The prosecutors said Mossack Fonseca perpetrated a “decades-long criminal scheme,” which was first exposed in a series of articles since 2015 by the Guardian and dozens of media partners around the world.
Geoffrey Berman, the US attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement on Tuesday that the four went to “extraordinary lengths to circumvent US tax laws” in order to boost the wealth of their clients.
“Now, their international tax scheme is over, and these defendants face years in prison for their crimes,” said Berman.
Those charged were Ramses Owens, a Panamanian attorney who worked for Mossack Fonseca; Dirk Brauer, an investment manager for a Mossack subsidiary; Richard Gaffey, a US-based accountant; and Harald Joachim von Der Goltz, a former US resident and Mossack client.
Von Der Goltz, an 81-year-old German citizen, was arrested in London on Monday, according to prosecutors, who thanked British authorities for their assistance in the case.
Brauer, 54, was arrested in Paris last month and Gaffey, 74, was arrested in Massachusetts on Tuesday. But Owens, 50, remains at large, US authorities said. The charges were unsealed on Tuesday. A court filing indicated that the men had been indicted in secret by a grand jury in September.
Investigators said Owens and Brauer had for years created and managed sham foundations, opaque offshore trusts and undeclared bank accounts to allow American clients of Mossack Fonseca to hide their income from US tax authorities.
Clients were then advised on how to illegally bring the funds from their offshore accounts into the US, using specially created debit cards and falsely claiming the money had come from the sale of companies.
Von Der Goltz, a German citizen who was allegedly one of the firm’s American-based clients, is accused of using shell companies to hide tens of millions of dollars from the IRS, and falsely claiming his Guatemalan mother was the true owner of his offshore holdings.
Gaffey is accused of assisting Von Der Goltz’s scheme and advising another American taxpayer, who is identified in Tuesday’s filings only as “Client 1”. Gaffey allegedly devised a system for this client to bring $3m of offshore funds into the US by falsely telling the IRS he had sold a company.
The indictments were announced less than a week after law enforcement officials in Frankfurt raided the offices of Deutsche Bank as part of a German investigation into alleged money laundering connected to the Panamanian scheme.
German authorities said that 170 police officers, prosecutors, and tax inspectors searched six Deutsche Bank offices around Frankfurt and seized files as part of their investigation into two bank employees who allegedly helped create offshore shell companies to help their clients launder money.
The decision to prosecute the case represented one of the most aggressive actions against white-collar crime so far by the Trump administration’s justice department.
Apart from some of the largest fraud cases in US history, such as the decision to indict the accountant Arthur Andersen in the wake of the Enron scandal, white-collar prosecutors have not always aggressively pursued people involved in money-laundering.
Brian Benczkowski, an assistant attorney general, said on Tuesday: “The charges announced today demonstrate our commitment to prosecute professionals who facilitate financial crime across international borders and the tax cheats who utilize their services.”
Although the case is being brought by the Trump administration, it appears to have been initiated in 2016, by Preet Bharara, who was then US attorney for the southern district of New York, nominated by Barack Obama.
Bharara opened a formal criminal investigation into wrongdoing exposed in the publication of the Panama Papers. Bharara sent a letter to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) at the time, asking to speak to reporters on the subject.
Bertus Wilhelminus Antonius Meijer, The Top Producer In Euro-Israel
Globalism is sought in Panama Papers and Swiss Leaks related data sets.
The Meijer Family Are Considered To Be “The Rockefellers of Europe”. Now
their progeny has joined Israel’s dynasty together with Europe’s biggest
family fund.
Bertus Wilhelminus Antonius Meijer is the Chairman at MRP Investments Ltd.
He was born in December of 1968 and chosen by his father to blaze a path
through industrialized Europe with the acquisition and management of cross
national interests. With the acceleration of the Israeli/Iran war
potential, eyes have been turned towards the international dealings of the
Meijers.
The Meijer Family are considered, by State Departments, to be like the Rothschild Family.
The Rothschild family is a wealthy family descending from Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factorto the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of Frankfurt, Holy Roman Empire, who established his banking business in the 1760s.[2] Unlike most previous court factors, Rothschild managed to bequeath his wealth and established an international banking family through his five sons,[3] who established themselves in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Vienna, and Naples. The family was elevated to noble rank in the Holy Roman Empire and the United Kingdom.
During the 19th century, the Rothschild family possessed the largest private fortune in the world, as well as the largest private fortune in modern world history.[4][5][6] The family's wealth was divided among various descendants,[7] and today their interests cover a diverse range of fields, including financial services, real estate, mining, energy, mixed farming, winemaking and nonprofits.[8][9]
The Rothschild family has frequently been the subject of conspiracy theories.
Paul Johnson writes "[T]he Rothschilds are elusive. There is no book about them that is both revealing and accurate. Libraries of nonsense have been written about them... A woman who planned to write a book entitled Lies about the Rothschilds abandoned it, saying: 'It was relatively easy to spot the lies, but it proved impossible to find out the truth.'" He writes that, unlike the court factors of earlier centuries, who had financed and managed European noble houses, but often lost their wealth through violence or expropriation, the new kind of international bank created by the Rothschilds was impervious to local attacks.
Their assets were held in financial instruments, circulating through the
world as stocks, bonds and debts. Changes made by the Rothschilds allowed
them to insulate their property from local violence: "Henceforth their
real wealth was beyond the reach of the mob, almost beyond the reach of
greedy monarchs."[13]Johnson argued that their fortune was generated to
the greatest extent by Nathan Mayer Rothschild in London;
however, more recent research by Niall Ferguson indicates that
greater and equal profits also were realised by the other Rothschild
dynasties, including James Mayer de Rothschild in
Paris, Carl Mayer von Rothschild in Naples and Amschel
Mayer Rothschild in Frankfurt.[14]
We examined Bertus (Bart) Meijer’s relationships through Ofer Gilboa,
Chief Executive Officer & Director at MRP Investments Ltd.; Ken Lalo,
Deputy Director General at MRP Investments Ltd.; Yosi Zeituni, Chief
Financial Officer at Atreyu Capital Markets Ltd., Naomi Steinfeld,
Managing Partner at Naomi Steinfeld & Co.; Lior Mor, Head of Real
Estate at Menora Mivtachim Pensions Ltd.; Avi Shachar, External Director
at MRP Investments Ltd.; Ronit Noam, External Director at Meitav DS
Investments Ltd., Ophir Falk, Director at MRP Investments Ltd.; Shlomo
Bracha, Former Independent Director at MRP Investments Ltd.; Yitzhak
Apeloig, Managing Partner at ATE Technology Equipment B.V.; and their
related CIA, GCHQ, FSB and federal ‘Watch-List’ records.
MRP Investments Ltd. is an investment holding company. It operates
directly and through subsidiaries in the following segments: Yielding Real
Estate and Technology and Biotechnology. Yielding real estate segment
engages in holdings in assets through the property companies. The company
invests in companies which operate in the field of biotechnology and
technology. The company was founded in November 1990 and is headquartered
in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Bertus (Bart) Meijer is listed as an Officer with Vertico in California.
The address on file is 1755 E Bayshore Rd Ste 22, Redwood City, CA
94063 in San Mateo County with a phone number of: (925) 891-5697
The company is a California Domestic Corporation, which was filed on May
29, 1986. The filing status is listed as Suspended. The Registered Agent
of record resigned On 05/07/2001. The company produced virtual reality
theme park equipment.
Meijer is a Dutch surname. It refers to
a profession similar to a bailiff or steward. It
originates from the Latin word maior.[1]
As of 2007, there are 39,801 people with the surname Meijer in
the Netherlands.[1]
His name is usually signed as: Bertus W.A. Meijer and his main company,
aside from his shell corporations, is United Companies B. Meijer N.V., a
Netherlands Corporation.
He also uses the names: Bart Meijer, de beer b.w.a. meijer and Bertus
Wilhelmus Antonius Meijer
He used to live at 2000 Broadway in San Francisco, CA. The company paid
his cable TV bills there.
He had a phone number of 011-31-010-4365111, and a phone number of
011-31-104361213. He had a business address of 2109 landings Drive,
Mountain View, Ca, 94043 where he had another phone number of
011-31-010-512-1641
He had an address of: United Companies B. Meijer N.V., Van Aalststraat 11,
2651 EW Berkel en Rodenrijs, The Netherlands and another address of United
Companies B. Meijer N.V., Veerhaven 7
3016 CJ, Rotterdam NL. He had another of: Bertus Wilhelmus Antonius
Meijer, Kardinaal Mercierlei 17 B 3, 2600 Berchem, Belgium according to
FBI records.
He had a U.S. company called Verico and and another U.S. company called
Brainco where he used thea phone number of 011-32-477-417-293.
He had a business address of Brainco at 1755 E. Bayshore Rd., Suite
22,vRedwood City, CA 94063 with a phone number of 1-650-562-2700 for
that business. The EDD account number for Brainco was 407-6414-9. He had a
phone number of 011-31-70-352-4144 which he used for that venture.
He had a company address for a company called: MAB B.V. located at Van
Stolkweg 23, Postbus 80538 GM, Den Haag, Netherlands
He had an ING Bank account that once used an ING Reference number of
WP9214005312150B which he faxed to from fax number, 00-3232186411 and had
accounts at ING Bank.
He had an address of: United Companies B. Meijer N.V., Sterrenweg 49,
2651HZ Berkel en Rodenrijs with a phone number of: 010-5121641 and a fax
number of: 010-5121832 and an email was used as Email:
svanzijlspeelman@compuserve.com
United Companies B. Meijer N.V. are a huge conglomerate of business and
lobbying efforts.
B. Meijer Holding B.V., Netherlands
• B. Meijer Beheer B.V., Netherlands
• Marcus Classe B- Monsieur Sebastianus
Meijer, Luxembourg
• Antonius Franciscus Meijer Meijer,
Luxembourg
• Esther Meijer-De Meijer, Netherlands
• Cerwin Francis Meijer Meijer, United
Kingdom
• United Companies B. Meijer N.V.
Nederlandse Antillen, Netherlands
• Johannes Jacobus Meijer Hans Meijer,
Luxembourg
• Hendrik Meijer, United Kingdom
QAnon on the Rothschild, Saudi & Soros Puppet Masters behind the Deep
State (exopolitics.org)
by Justaddcoffee to politics (+25|-4)
Multibillion dollar Meijer, Inc. finds another way to screw Michigan
cities and kids
by EclectablogSometimes you just have to ask “How much money and
greed is enough?”
Meijer, Inc. is one of the largest privately-owned companies in the
country. When he died, Frederick Meijer, the son of the founder of the
company, was worth $5 billion. The stores pioneered the concept of
“one-stop shopping”, a shopping center where you could buy everything from
car batteries to fresh broccoli.This past year, Meijer, Inc. has been
challenging its tax assessments around the state, saving itself millions
and millions of dollars, money that is coming, in large part, directly
from the coffers of the municipalities and schools where their stores are
located. The Lansing area seems particularly hard hit:
The Meijer store at 2055 W. Grand River was extensively remodeled and
reorganized last year to maintain its footing in the lucrative Okemos
market.
Yet, the Michigan Tax Tribunal has accepted an agreement between Meridian
Township and the retailer to value the store for property tax purposes
between 2010 and 2012 as if it were “dark,” meaning it was closed and for
sale during that time.
The settlement means Walker-based grocery and general merchandise
chain Meijer Inc. will receive refunds totaling $320,165 from several
public agencies, including Okemos Public Schools and the Okemos Downtown
Development Authority. And it’s not an isolated case.
The DDA will be required to refund around $86,000 in taxes. The financially-stressed Okemos School District must repay $130,332.
Meijer has successfully challenged assessments at dozens of other stores, including one at 1350 W. Lake Lansing Road in East Lansing. There, the taxable value was reduced a total of $1.4 million for 2011 and 2012, resulting in $203,000 cut in property taxes, said David Lee, tassessor for the city and Meridian Township.
Meijer has appealed property tax values for 97 of its 140 stores dating back to fiscal year 2009, Michigan Tax Tribunal chief clerk Peter Kopke said. Thirteen cases are pending.
Meijer isn’t the only big box store doing this. Home Depot and Lowes are, too. The result is that these profitable companies are extracting money from schools and the local government at a time when both have already coughed up significant funds in terms of reduced funding to pay for corporate tax breaks these same companies are already enjoying. This only serves to compound a financial catastrophe already in progress around our state.
I understand the desire to maximize profits. All companies have that as their overarching aim. But when you help to destroy the cities in which you operate and the schools of the kids that live in the community that your PR people brag you are so concerned about, the rest of us really begin to wonder just how much money is enough and just how greedy do you have to be before you get labeled as “evil”.