By BENJAMIN WEISER, NY TIMES
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| Harry G.A. Seggerman |
May 12, 2012
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The meeting of the Seggerman family at the elegant Four Seasons Hotel in
New York in August 2001 was like many such gatherings of bereaved
families: a patriarch had died and the children had come to discuss
their inheritances.
In this case, the patriarch was Harry G. A. Seggerman,
a respected investment fund president who had died several months
earlier at age 73, leaving his family more than $20 million, the
government said.
But the meeting that day, attended by Mr. Seggerman’s widow and four of
his children, took an unusual turn, federal prosecutors in Manhattan
said on Friday.
The family’s lawyer, Michael Little, who was also present, explained
that half of Mr. Seggerman’s estate, more than $10 million, was in Swiss
and other foreign accounts, and he told them how they might keep the
money hidden to avoid paying United States taxes, prosecutors said.
The result was the hatching of a protracted tax fraud scheme involving
Mr. Little and various family members, federal prosecutors said. One of
Mr. Seggerman’s daughters has already pleaded guilty in Federal District
Court in Manhattan, and on Thursday night, the lawyer, Mr. Little, was
arrested on a conspiracy charge at Kennedy International Airport as he
arrived from London.
Mr. Little, 61, who has residences in Hampshire, England, and in New
York, would face a maximum of five years in prison if convicted. On
Friday, a federal magistrate judge said he could be released on a $2
million personal recognizance bond.
Mr. Little’s lawyer, Elkan Abramowitz, said “we are confident that in
the end we will be able to demonstrate that there is no merit” to the
charges, according to The Associated Press.Preet Bharara, the United
States attorney in Manhattan, said on Friday that his office was
prosecuting not only people who do not pay their taxes, but also “their
enablers.”
“In addition to breaking the law by advising his American clients on how
to break it themselves, Michael Little violated the most basic moral
and ethical tenets of the legal profession,” Mr. Bharara said.
A federal complaint unsealed on Friday charged that Mr. Little had told
family members how they could set up Swiss accounts and other entities
with him and a Swiss lawyer, who would be paid annual fees for their
services. He also explained how the family could bring money back to the
United States in small increments using, for example, traveler’s
checks.
Mr. Seggerman’s eldest son, a businessman who worked at his father’s
firm, also once proposed that his siblings use code words when
discussing the plan, the complaint said.
They would use the word “beef” when referring to money, “F.D.A.” for the
I.R.S., and “refrigerator” for certain accounts in which money would be
held, the complaint said.
Mr. Seggerman’s son Henry, who is listed on the Web site of the firm,
International Investment Advisors, did not respond to a request for
comment.
A grand jury investigation into the family’s handling of its inheritance
is continuing, the government said, and it has focused on foreign
advisers to the family, as well as the Swiss lawyer and a New Jersey
accountant.
Two of Mr. Seggerman’s other children, who are not identified in the
complaint, have provided information to prosecutors in hopes of entering
into cooperation agreements.
One, a daughter, took extensive notes at the Four Seasons meeting on
hotel stationery, which she turned over to investigators, prosecutors
said.
Another daughter, Suzanne Seggerman, pleaded guilty in 2010 to
conspiracy and tax charges, and is awaiting sentencing. She has become a
cooperating witness in the investigation, the complaint said.
Her lawyer, Russell M. Gioiella, said on Friday that his client had
“cooperated fully” in the case. “She sincerely regrets that she did not
disclose the existence of these accounts from the outset,” he added.
Update: They got jail. Good judge.
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