MAY 2014
In This Issue

"You'll admit there's always the possibility of some employee becoming disgruntled over some fancied injustice. Dissatisfaction always leads to temptation." ~ Joseph O'Donnell




 

The goal of this e-newsletter is to provide you critical, inside information that will help you prevail when defending an IRS criminal case. We will do this by sharing the knowledge we have from our 25+ years of experience as an IRS Special Agent. 

 

We are grateful to have the opportunity to provide you this valuable information via our monthly e-newsletter and our unparalleled forensic accounting and investigative services.

 

We take special care to ensure the information we provide you in "The Beacon" is the latest and most current information available. In this edition, we have addressed

  

We want to write about topics that will assist you in prevailing with criminal IRS cases. Please e-mail us your topics of interest to [email protected]. 

 

We encourage you to share our e-newsletter with others in your sphere of influence.

 

Sincerely,

 

Edmond J. Martin

 
Principal, Chief Investigator
Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE)

Texas Certified Investigator (TCI)

 

IRS Seized Bank Accounts for Alleged Structuring of Deposits
Every day brings a new story about the IRS seizing bank accounts of American citizens. From grocery stores to dairy farms, from construction companies to other small businesses; if cash comes in, so does the IRS. In days past the IRS Criminal Investigations (CI) seized cash and assets based on laws passed in the 1980s, and as President George H. Bush said, "asset forfeiture laws allow the government to take the ill-gotten gains of drug kingpins and money launderers to put cops on the street." Now, however, CI routinely reaches far beyond the arena of drug money to seize bank accounts from non-criminal citizens with no income tax liability, just because of the appearance of a violation of Title 31 Sec. 5317(c)

 

§ 5317(c)(2) Civil Forfeiture

(2) Any property involved in a violation of section 5313, 5316, or 5324 of this title, or any property traceable to any such violation or conspiracy, may be seized and forfeited to the United States in accordance with the procedures governing civil forfeitures in money laundering cases pursuant to section 981(a)(1)(A) of title 18, United States Code.

 

Your clients need to be aware that their well-meaning bankers can cause the client to inadvertently violate the law by circumventing the CTR Rules.

 

The Compliance Officers can... Read More

 

The Disgruntled Bookkeeper 

Income tax evasion and fraud occur daily in the United States, and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) studies show that the largest arena of fraud is the small solely-owned business. The average citizen receives wages or a salary and taxes are withheld, therefore their opportunities for fraud are limited to false deductions and the understatement of cash jobs, which was referred to in the past as the "underground economy." The fraudulent small business owner is at double risk. He or she bears first the risks inherent in fraudulent activity, and second, the risk of employees (especially bookkeepers) learning of their fraud schemes and seeking a reward for being a "Whistle Blower."  

 

Consider the bookkeeper who witnesses the boss taking lavish trips, deducting personal expenditures as business expenditures, acquiring personal assets in the business name, and skirting labor and environmental laws. During her employment, the bookkeeper learns that the IRS previously conducted an audit, yet the owner continues fraudulent tactics to reduce income. The bookkeeper enjoys her work, and her periodic requests for a raise are granted, so she keeps her observations to herself. Until her next raise request is denied. Suddenly the bookkeeper isn't enjoying her work so much. Fueled by her disappointment, she becomes concerned about her culpability in the scheme to reduce the owner's taxes. She contacts a relative in law enforcement who connects her with the Criminal Investigation Division, and soon she becomes...

Read More

 

About Us

Serving your needs is our priority.

  

At Sage Investigations we are dedicated to serving our clients nationally, to help them navigate the difficulties of dealing with the IRS, and other complex (forensic) financial fraud investigations both civil and criminal. By narrowing our focus to our primary strength of following the money, we steer our knowledge, efforts, and experience to financial issues. We help our clients propel their cases forward by assisting in the review, acquisition, and organization of financial records, evaluating the elements of their cases, and helping create winning strategies. Through the use of our proprietary advanced financial investigative technology we analyze complex financial data quickly, easily and efficiently, saving our client's time and money.

 

Sage handles all cases with altruism, professionalism, honesty, integrity, passion and respect. When you hire Sage, you hire a team of professionals with skill and knowledge that helps you have more effective solutions. We are innovative with our DIO cutting edge technology, and perform every investigation in an orderly and organized manner to develop a clear investigative roadmap and deliver a quality work product. The compass that guides us is strong leadership and accountability. Learn more...

 

Contact Us

 

P.O. Box 160161

Austin, TX 78716

Phone: 512-659-3179

Fax: 512-328-6878

Email: [email protected] 

www.sageinvestigations.com

Texas License #A10803

 

 

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