Quatloos! > Investment
Fraud > Multi-Level
Marketing > EXHIBIT:
Global Prosperity Group > Struckman
Convicted
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 2003
WWW.USDOJ.GOV |
TAX
(202) 514-2007
TDD (202) 514-1888 |
JURY CONVICTS INSTITUTE OF GLOBAL PROSPERITY
PARTICIPANT OF CONSPIRACY TO
STRUCTURE CURRENCY TRANSACTIONS
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Assistant Attorney General Eileen J. O'Connor of the Tax
Division announced that a federal jury in Seattle returned a guilty verdict
against Laura Jean Marie Struckman, a participant in the Institute of Global
Prosperity (IGP). She was convicted of conspiracy to structure a financial
transaction.
Trial evidence showed that Struckman, formerly of Renton, Wash., and an unindicted
co-conspirator engaged in a 14-month conspiracy from June 1997 through August
1998 to evade currency reporting requirements by making cash withdrawals of
over $960,000 in 122 separate transactions, none of which exceeded $10,000.
The evidence further established that Struckman was the co-signer on three
nominee bank accounts, opened at the U.S. Bank of Washington, into which she
and another individual deposited over $3.7 million, earned from IGP, during
the time period of the conspiracy.
Struckman faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years imprisonment and
a $250,000 fine. She is scheduled to be sentenced by the Chief U.S. District
Judge John C. Coughenour Aug. 8, 2003.
In other cases related to IGP, Jeffrey and Shoshana Szuch and Margo Jordan
all pleaded guilty to using foreign bank accounts to commit tax evasion. According
to indictments in those cases, the government showed that IGP was 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 indictments alleged that 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
Internal Revenue Service.
The Struckman case was investigated by agents of IRS Criminal Investigation.
It was prosecuted by Tax Division trial attorneys Mark T. Odulio and Christopher
J. Maietta.
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