Ex-Quellos Tax Attorney Takes Plea, Will Help Pay $7M, Speak at Law School
The former chief executive officer and tax attorney for the Quellos Group LLC hedge fund have accepted a plea agreement that will require them to pay the Internal Revenue Service up to $7M and cover the estimated $400,000 cost of their prosecution by the Justice Department.
As part of the deal, Jeffrey Greenstein, 48, and attorney Charles Wilk, 51, will also “be required to speak at their graduate schools about business and legal ethics,” states a Justice Department press release reprinted by the Puget Sound Business Journal.
Although the $7 million relates to the defendants’ claimed personal gain from what the DOJ describes as a fraudulent tax shelter scheme predicated on a sham offshore “investment” fund with no assets or employees, it cost the government some $240 million, the feds say. Clients who used the Quellos shelter to avoid paying this tax on some $1.3 billion in capital gains have since anted up, according to the Associated Press.
Sentencing guidelines call for the two defendants to get as much as eight years in federal prison when they are sentenced in the Seattle case, but prosecutors have agreed to seek no more than six years.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “2 Lawyers Charged in $400M Tax Shelter Prosecution of Former Quellos CEO”
ABAJournal.com: “Jailed Attorney Sues Billionaire Ex-Client, Seeking to Retain $36M Quellos Fee”
ABAJournal.com: “L.A. Lawyer Pleads in Quellos Case, Admits He Didn’t Pay Tax on $35M Offshore Account”
