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Fraud > Multi-Level
Marketing > EXHIBIT:
Global Prosperity Group > 2
Plead Guilty
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2003
WWW.USDOJ.GOV |
TAX
(202) 514-2007
TDD (202) 514-1888 |
TWO PLEAD GUILTY IN FRAUDULENT
OFFSHORE TAX SHELTER SCHEME
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Department of Justice announced that two former
administrators of the Institute of Global Prosperity (IGP) admitted in federal
court in Charleston, S.C., today that they used a foreign bank account to commit
tax evasion. Shoshana B. Szuch, former Director of Operations of IGP, and her
husband, Jeffrey S. Szuch, a former IGP conference planner, each entered a
guilty plea before U.S. District Judge David C. Horton.
“Depositing your income in an offshore bank account doesn’t make
it non-taxable,” said Assistant Attorney General Eileen J. O’Connor
of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “The Justice Department
is working with the Internal Revenue Service to identify and prosecute people
who use offshore trusts and bank accounts to commit tax evasion.”
According to the charging document filed in court, the Szuchs were administrators
of the Institute of Global Prosperity (IGP), an organization that hosted offshore
seminars for promoters of abusive trusts and anti-tax schemes. IGP was also
known by other names, including Global Prosperity Marketing Group (GPMG) and
Global Prosperity Group (GPG). Members of IGP marketed and sold various IGP
products, including an “education course” named “Global 1” priced
at $1,250; a ticket to a three-day offshore seminar named “Global 2” priced
at $6,250; and a ticket to a five-day offshore seminar named “Global
3” priced at $18,750. The Global 2 and Global 3 seminars brought together
portions of the IGP membership to hear, among other things, presentations by
individuals and organizations involved in the sale and operation of foreign
trusts designed in part to conceal income from the IRS.
Shoshana Szuch marketed and sold IGP products from the fall of 1996 until
the fall of 1997 and was the Director of Operations of IGP from the fall of
1997 through February 2001, according to documents filed in court. Her husband,
Jeffrey Szuch, assisted her in selling IGP products and planning offshore conferences
hosted by IGP.
On or about Sept. 4, 1997, Shoshana Szuch and Jeffrey Szuch purchased an International
Business Corporation (IBC) and related offshore bank account in the name of
Oro Blanco, Ltd. This bank account, located in Antigua, was used by the Szuchs
to conceal the income paid to Shoshana Szuch by IGP and the income earned from
the sale of IGP products. Shoshana and Jeffrey Szuch failed to file a 1997
tax return despite having approximately $62,540 in taxable income from IGP-related
activities, upon which they owed approximately $21,051 in income tax.
The plea agreement requires the Szuchs to cooperate fully with the government
regarding their involvement and the involvement of others with IGP and to cooperate
with the IRS in the ascertainment, computation and payment of their correct
federal income tax liability for 1997 through 1999. The maximum statutory penalties
for tax evasion are imprisonment for five years, release under court supervision
for three years and a fine of $250,000. No sentencing date has been set for
the Szuchs.
A member of IGP, Margo E. Jordan, pled guilty to tax evasion regarding her
1997 income taxes in the District of Maine on Feb. 28, 2003.
This case was investigated by agents of the IRS Criminal Investigation. More
information about tax fraud schemes to avoid can be found online at http://www.treas.gov/irs/ci/.
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03-135
US v Szuch Information
Jeffrey Szuch Plea
Shoshanna Plea