Free Republic

A former U.S. resident and taxpayer who was charged along with three others in connection with a decades-long criminal scheme perpetrated by Mossack Fonseca & Co. (Mossack Fonseca), a Panamanian-based global law firm, and its related entities, pleaded guilty today to wire and tax fraud, money laundering, false statements and other charges. Harald Joachim von der Goltz, aka “H.J von der Goltz,” “Johan von der Goltz,” “Jochen von der Goltz,” “Tica,” and “Tika,” 82, a citizen of Germany and Guatemala who last resided in Needham, Massachusetts, and Key Biscayne, Florida, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit tax...

“Hundreds of billions of dollars are lost every year because people like the defendant choose to shirk their responsibilities as taxpayers,” prosecutors wrote. “Put bluntly, meaningful sentences must be given in cases such as this to forewarn others of the consequences for engaging in multi-year tax fraud.”The New York Times, in collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, reported on von der Goltz’s work with Mossack Fonseca in June 2016. One day after the story, prosecutors said, von der Goltz left a voicemail with Gaffey.“Unfortunately,” von der Goltz said, “with the interview I had with the IRS [Internal Revenue...