Key Known Details of the Conviction
Defendant: Ashvin Desai
Counts of Conviction (Jury Verdict): 7206(1) Tax Perjury - 3 counts; 7206(2) Aiding and Assisting - 2 counts; FBAR - 3 counts
Bank: HSBC
Court: ND CA
Judge: Edward J. Davila (Wikipedia entry here)
Articles:
- HSBC India Client Convicted of Hiding Accounts From IRS (Bloomberg 10/3/13), here.
Desai, of San Jose, was convicted of filing false returns for 2007, 2008 and 2009 that omitted interest income of as much as $471,324 in the first year on HSBC India accounts. He also helped his adult son and adult daughter file false returns, and failed to file FBARs for 2007 through 2009, the jury found.For students who may not have seen a form of guilty verdict signed by the foreman, I link the Desai guilty verdict here.
Counts 6, 7 and 8 (regarding failure to file FBARs for 2007, 2008 and 2009, the language in the verdict says only "failure to file" and says nothing about whether the failure to file was willful or not. It seems to me that the verdict should have addressed this since willful failure entails both a higher penalty and a stricter standard of proof.
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind that this is a criminal case. The instructions to the jury would have covered the requirement that the defendant must have acted willfully in order to be found guilty. Still, I am surprised that the judge did not include the word willfully (or some equivalent concept) in the actual jury verdict.
ReplyDeleteJack Townsend
Was he ever sentenced?
ReplyDeleteI have no information that he has been sentenced. Sentencing sometimes takes many months, particularly if the defendant has entered the cooperation mode.
ReplyDeleteJack Townsend