Friday, July 8, 2011 | 3:10 p.m.
A federal grand jury in Las Vegas charged three men, including a former Colorado lawyer and a Las Vegas accountant, with marketing and selling products designed to conceal income and assets from the Internal Revenue Service and other creditors, Nevada's U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden said today.
William Reed, Richard Neiswonger and Wendell Waite, each were charged in Tuesday's indictment with conspiracy to defraud the United States. Neiswonger was also charged with multiple counts of mail and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. Reed was also charged with multiple counts of mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering, aggravated identity theft and attempted tax evasion.
Waite is scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate judge in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Arrest warrants were issued for Reed and Neiswonger, but they have not yet been taken into custody.
The indictment alleged that from 1998 to 2006, the defendants were involved in a scheme to enrich themselves through the sale of services and products that would assist persons in concealing their assets from the IRS and creditors. The indictment alleges the men may have made more than $60 million from the scheme.
Neiswonger was engaged in sales and marketing ventures and resided in Las Vegas. Reed was a lawyer in Colorado from 1975 to 1997, owned at least one residence in Las Vegas, and wrote the book, "Bulletproof Asset Protection." Waite resided in Las Vegas and was a licensed certified public accountant in Nevada, California and Utah.
Through a number of business entities created around the name Asset Protection Group, and collectively identified in the indictment as “APG,” the defendants allegedly marketed and sold four inter-related products: corporations with disguised ownership; disguised ownership bank accounts; property liens creating the false impression that a client had little or no equity in a property; and a business opportunities training program, which taught them how to sell the fraudulent products for APG.
APG allegedly sold the business opportunity training program to at least 1,000 individuals for $10,000 each, created roughly 2,500 disguised ownership corporations in Nevada for $795 each, opened more than 900 disguised ownership corporate bank accounts, and prepared more than 400 fraudulent liens. Waite allegedly received more than 180 corporate tax referrals from APG and prepared more than 400 tax returns.
From 2003 to 2006, APG allegedly received more than $63 million in deposits, made more than $62 million in withdrawals through one of its bank accounts and sent more than $11 million offshore.
The Federal Trade Commission intervened in APG’s operations in July 2006. The U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Missouri in 2007 entered a permanent injunction against APG prohibiting it from marketing the business opportunity training program.
If convicted, Neiswonger faces up to 290 years in prison and $4.25 million in fines, Reed could receive to 364 years in prison and $7.75 million in fines, and Waite could get up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The case is being investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Gregory Damm.
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