Posted on 12/17/2005 1:04:46 PM PST by churchillbuff
Asset protection guru Wade B. Cook and his wife were charged Thursday with eight counts of tax fraud, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Federal prosecutors accused the couple of concealing nearly $8.9 million in royalties from 1998 to 2000.
Cook, 56, and his wife Laura, 52, were charged in U.S. District Court in Seattle. The couple have a rural home near Fall City, about 25 miles east of Seattle.
His company, Wade Cook Financial Corp., was based in Tukwila.
Cook has conducted hundreds of seminars on asset protection, stock market investing, real estate acquisition and avoidance of income tax, the U.S. attorney's office said in a statement. His books include ``Wall Street Money Machine,'' ``Wealth 101'' and ``Business by the Bible.''
The criminal charges arose from Cook's operation of Wade Cook Seminars, a subsidiary of Wade Cook Financial, court papers said.
In tax returns filed for 1998, 1999 and 2000, the couple reported adjusted gross incomes of about $350,000 annually. Prosecutors contend they concealed nearly $8.9 million in royalties from Wade Cook's books and seminars over the three years.
According to charging papers, the Cooks created a fictitious limited partnership, called Never Ending Wealth LP, which was ostensibly owned by a tax-exempt entity called a charitable remainder trust -- purportedly established to benefit the Mormon Church.
In fact, the documents said, the Cooks used the trust to conceal royalty income they spent on such things as Arabian show horses, his-and-hers Cadillacs and a $20,000 baby grand piano given to a business associate.
``They also used NEW funds to make imprudent business loans to prop up struggling business ventures into which Wade B. Cook had already poured large sums of money,'' the documents said.
No funds were left in the trust for the church, the U.S. attorney's office said.
A call for comment to Cook's lawyer Robert Chicoine was not immediately returned late Thursday. The Cooks' telephone number is not listed with directory assistance.
Cook, a former cab driver, shut down his operations in February 2003, a month after his Tukwila company went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Creditors alleged that the company had made dubious loans to executives and failed to pay for employees' health-insurance coverage despite collecting premiums.
The creditors' group asked U.S. Bankruptcy Court to order Wade Cook Financial and its affiliate, the Stock Market Institute of Learning, into involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which was granted but changed within hours to Chapter 11.
Court-appointed trustee Diana Carey is still working to settle claims against the company, according to a recorded message at the office of her attorney.
In May 2003, the Washington state attorney general's office sued Cook because his companies failed to pay $75,000 in fees that were part of a previous $400,000 settlement of a Consumer Protection Act suit brought by 14 states.
File under "if it sounds too good to be true..."
Does this mean they'll finally take that godawful informercial of his off of WABC?
Sounds like to me He was practicing what he preached,lol.
He didn't get the name "Wade Crook" for nothing.
Sounds like to me He was practicing what he preached,lol.>>>>>>>>>>>
At one time I was a silent partner in a small printing business which had as one of its regular customers a "financial advisor" who gave weekly seminars on money management. Wouldn't you know it, he was always behind on payment for his printing. It got so bad that I told the guy who ran the shop that he should go to a seminar and stand up in the audience and ask the man why he was advising people on money management when he never paid his bill on time.
Hmmm, so you protect your assets from taxation by the simple expedient of not paying taxes on them. Why didn't I think of that?
Tax loophole ping.
It's rather amazing when you find out who is susceptible to these charlatans. One of my clients was a surgeon with superb academic credentials, significant assets and she fell for on of these "I can make you a millionaire in no money down real-estate investment!" scams. I could hardly believe that the intelligence that powered her through medical school was not sufficient to warn her that the program couldn't be legitimate. But - this is the oft noted distinction between common sense and intellect. I am still astonished at the number of people who fall for these (Carleton Sheets, etc.) folks who are perhaps becoming millionaires, but not on the wisdom of their investment technique - but rather on selling seminar binders full of public domain knowledge for $300 a shot.
That's what proves psychics are bunk. Anybody who really was psychic would instantly make a fortune in the stock market and not have to try to pedddle her services as a psychic. As soon as they start selling their services, you know they're not psychic.
Now thats asset protection!
Not only that... you can make the Federal government provide your housing and food and clothing and recreation for free. For a complet booklet on this amazing offer write
Inmate 4155823
C/O Lompoc Federal Prison
Lompoc, California
(slaps self on forehead)
The last I heard of this Wade Cook was in the mid to late 1990"s when there were numerous fraud charges filed against he and is wife. You just can't keep a scumbag down.
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