Dallas大陪审团起诉4名德州居民：被指推广非法避税信托 涉隐匿收入逾15亿美元、税损逾2亿美元
Dallas——美国司法部10月14日公布，Dallas联邦大陪审团已于9月22日递交起诉书，指控4名德州居民合谋欺诈美国政府并犯有其他罪行，涉嫌推广一套非法避税信托计划。4名被告是邓肯·约翰·麦克唐纳（Duncan John MacDonald）、萨拉·杜伦（Sarah Duren）、理查德·罗纳德·凯斯（Richard Ronald Cayce）与托马斯·魏克格南特（Thomas Weickgenant）。
据起诉书，四人推广并出售一套欺诈性信托安排，被用于隐匿逾15亿美元收入，给国税局造成估计逾2亿美元的税款损失。他们向客户出售该计划，收费常常超过10万美元，谎称客户可以把收入转入虚假信托、无限期递延纳税，同时继续享用并控制自己的资产与收入；他们还涉嫌鼓动部分客户倒填信托日期，并提交修订后的税表、追讨往年已缴税款的退税。
起诉书称，魏克格南特涉嫌为避税客户填报虚假税表，并妨碍国税局对这些客户的审计，包括要求客户不要与国税局交谈、鼓动至少一名客户不遵守联邦地区法院执行国税局传票的命令。麦克唐纳与杜伦是事实婚姻伴侣，涉嫌就出售该计划所得的数百万美元费用收入逃税：隐瞒麦克唐纳对这门生意的实际所有权、向联邦调查人员撒谎、提交虚假税表、利用信托隐匿收入，并通过信托与他人名下账户支付个人生活开支。拥有该信托避税计划经销权的凯斯同样收取了数百万美元费用，但未在个人税表上申报。
起诉书还称，麦克唐纳以购买一家推广「数字信托」生意的股份为名，欺诈性地从投资者处募集200万美元，随后把这笔钱用于个人奢侈消费，包括购买一辆劳斯莱斯Ghost汽车和支付一艘游艇的首付款；收款时，他正受一项法院禁令约束，被禁止出售未在美国证券交易委员会注册的证券。
罪名与最高刑期方面：四人各被控一项合谋欺诈美国政府罪，最高5年监禁；协助填报虚假税表罪每项最高3年；魏克格南特另被控妨碍国税局罪；麦克唐纳与杜伦被控多项逃税罪，每项最高5年；凯斯被控多项提交虚假税表罪，每项最高3年；麦克唐纳另被控电汇欺诈罪（每项最高20年）与涉犯罪所得交易罪（每项最高10年）。
司法部国家欺诈执法司助理检察长科林·麦克唐纳（Colin M. McDonald）与德州北区联邦检察官瑞安·雷博尔德（Ryan R. Raybould）宣布了此案。国税局刑事调查局负责调查，国家欺诈执法司税务科与德州北区联邦检察官办公室共同负责起诉。司法部表示，此案是该部国家欺诈执法司近期全国税务执法行动中公布的案件之一；该司于今年4月设立，配合由副总统万斯主持的跨政府「消除欺诈」工作组。
司法部说明，起诉书仅为指控，四名被告在法庭上被证明有罪之前均被推定无罪。
（来源：美国司法部公共事务办公室）
Dallas Grand Jury Charges Four Texans Over Illegal Tax Shelter: $1.5 Billion in Income and $200 Million Tax Loss Alleged
DALLAS — A federal grand jury in Dallas returned an indictment on September 22 charging four Texas residents with conspiracy to defraud the United States and other crimes for promoting an illegal tax shelter, the Justice Department announced on October 14. The defendants are Duncan John MacDonald, Sarah Duren, Richard Ronald Cayce, and Thomas Weickgenant.
According to the indictment, the four promoted and sold a fraudulent trust scheme that was used to shelter more than $1.5 billion of income, causing an estimated tax loss to the IRS of more than $200 million. They allegedly sold the shelter to clients for fees that often exceeded $100,000, fraudulently telling clients they could assign their income to sham trusts to defer paying taxes in perpetuity while continuing to enjoy the benefit and control of their assets and income. They also allegedly encouraged some clients to backdate their trusts and file amended returns claiming refunds for prior years' taxes.
The indictment alleges that Weickgenant, who allegedly filed false tax returns for tax shelter clients, obstructed IRS efforts to audit those clients, including instructing clients not to speak with the IRS and encouraging at least one client not to comply with a U.S. District Court order enforcing an IRS summons. MacDonald and Duren, who are common-law spouses, allegedly evaded income taxes on the millions of dollars they received in fees: concealing MacDonald's ownership of the tax shelter business, lying to federal investigators, filing false tax returns, using trusts to conceal income, and paying personal living expenses through trusts and nominee accounts. Cayce, who owned the distributorship licensing the trust tax shelter, likewise received millions of dollars in fees that he failed to report on his income tax returns.
MacDonald also allegedly solicited $2 million from investors purportedly to purchase shares in a business promoting digital trusts, and instead used the money for luxury goods, including a Rolls Royce Ghost and the down payment on a yacht. At the time, MacDonald was allegedly under a court-ordered injunction prohibiting him from selling securities not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Each defendant is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, which carries a maximum of five years in prison. Aiding in the preparation of a false return carries up to three years per count; Weickgenant is also charged with corrupt interference with the IRS; MacDonald and Duren face tax evasion counts carrying up to five years each; Cayce faces false-return counts carrying up to three years each; and MacDonald faces wire fraud counts (up to 20 years each) and transactions in criminally derived property (up to 10 years each).
Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department's National Fraud Enforcement Division and U.S. Attorney Ryan R. Raybould for the Northern District of Texas made the announcement. IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case, and the National Fraud Enforcement Division's Tax Section and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas are prosecuting. The Justice Department said the case was among those announced in the National Fraud Enforcement Division's recent nationwide tax enforcement actions; the division was created in April and supports the government-wide Task Force to Eliminate Fraud chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
(Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs)
来源：美国司法部公共事务办公室
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：华盛顿特区宾夕法尼亚大道950号美国司法部总部大楼外墙的「司法部」标志（2025年2月7日摄）。G. Edward Johnson摄，CC BY 4.0，取自维基共享资源。The Department of Justice wall sign at 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, February 7, 2025. Photo by G. Edward Johnson, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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