Billionaire Robert Brockman, who was indicted in 2020 in what has been known as the most important ever tax evasion case towards a person in the United States, has died. He was 81.
Brockman’s loss of life was confirmed Saturday by his lead legal professional, Kathy Keneally. Additional particulars and the reason for loss of life weren’t instantly obtainable.
His attorneys had been arguing in court docket that he had dementia and was incompetent to face trial. But a decide in May dominated him competent and set a February 2023 trial date.
Brockman, a Florida native and Houston resident whose fortune has been estimated by Forbes at $4.7 billion, was the previous CEO of Reynolds & Reynolds, an Ohio-based software program firm that gives options to companies.
In October 2020, the federal government charged him in a 39-count indictment with evading taxes on $2 billion in beneficial properties, wire fraud, cash laundering and different offenses. He had pleaded not responsible.
The alleged scheme to hide the billions in revenue from the IRS spanned a long time, the Department of Justice stated in its announcement of the indictment.
David L. Anderson, U.S. legal professional for the Northern District of California, stated at the time that the “allegation of a $2 billion tax fraud is the largest ever tax charge against an individual” in the U.S.
Keneally, his lead lawyer and a long-time tax specialist, was the assistant legal professional normal in cost of the Justice Department’s tax division from 2012 to 2014.
According to court docket information, Robert Smith, Brockman’s former enterprise affiliate and the wealthiest Black citizen in the U.S., was to be a key witness towards him. Smith averted prices by admitting to evading taxes, paying $139 million in taxes and penalties, and agreeing to cooperate, records present.Â
At situation in the prison case towards Brockman was the allegation that he averted taxes by way of an offshore charitable belief that prosecutors stated was secretly managed by him — and which he stated was impartial.
Prosecutors stated he used ill-gotten beneficial properties to purchase a Colorado fishing lodge, a non-public jet and a 200-foot yacht, amongst different issues. The authorities filed paperwork in 2021 to seize the 100-acre fishing retreat in the Rockies, the Aspen Times reported then.
It was not instantly clear how Brockman’s loss of life would have an effect on the federal government’s skill to recuperate the taxes it says are owed.
He is survived by his spouse of 53 years, Dorothy; son Robert Brockman II; a brother and two grandchildren, in line with Bloomberg.