Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Helio Castroneves Acquitted of Tax Evasion


Helio Castroneves was acquitted Friday of all five tax evasion charges stemming from his alleged formation of foreign shell corporations to hide certain racing revenue. ESPN reported that the case really ended up coming down to testimony from Castroneves's father regarding the original formation of the foreign corporations. He claimed his son never had any control or ownership interest in the corporations and that Helio had no control over their initial formation. The jury obviously believed Helio and his father regarding the tax evasion but was still hung on one conspiracy charge. The Government likely will not pursue the conspiracy issue any further though. Helio could have faced up to six years in prison had he been convicted.

Both Helio's sister, who is his business manager, and Alan Miller, Helio's attorney responsible for his financial planning and structuring, were acquitted of their tax evasion charges as well.

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