WASHINGTON, D.C. - David Alan Struckman, co-founder of the “Institute of Global Prosperity” (Global Prosperity)—an organization that sold audiotapes, CD’s and tickets to offshore seminars on “wealth-building” strategies—was deported from Panama and is in United States custody, the Justice Department announced today. Struckman was indicted in May 2004 for conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and has been in custody since January 10, 2006, when he was arrested by Panamanian authorities with the assistance of the Regional Security Office of the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) at the U.S. Embassy in Panama.
On January 17, 2006, Struckman made his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy K. Johnson in Houston. At the detention hearing today, the court ordered Struckman to be detained and transported in custody to the Western District of Washington, where he is charged in an indictment with felony tax charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States by impeding the IRS and tax evasion.
On May 11, 2004, Struckman, who resided in Renton, Washington, was charged along with Global Prosperity principals Daniel Andersen, Lorenzo Lamantia, Dwayne Robare, and Kuldip Singh, with conspiring to defraud the United States by impeding the IRS. The indictment alleges that from 1996 until May 2002, the defendants operated Global Prosperity and that its vendors conducted seminars which promoted bogus trust packages and other schemes advocating fraudulent methods of eliminating a person’s income tax liability. Global Prosperity allegedly received more than $40 million from selling the so-called “wealth building” products and tickets to the offshore seminars. The defendants were charged with concealing income they earned from the sale of Global Prosperity products, in part by using bogus trusts, nominee entities and offshore bank accounts, into which they deposited portions of their profits. They also allegedly transferred funds from the offshore bank accounts back into the United States through wire transfers and the use of debit cards.
All of Struckman’s co-defendants have pleaded guilty to tax crimes in the Western District of Washington. In July 2004, Global Prosperity co-founder Daniel Andersen pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States as charged in the indictment. In April 2005, Global Prosperity principal Dwayne Robare pleaded guilty to tax evasion in connection with concealing Global Prosperity income from the IRS. On December 15, 2005, Lorenzo Lamantia pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States as charged in the indictment, as well as tax evasion for the 2000 tax year. Lamantia’s common-law wife, Kuldip Singh (aka Kay Singh and Kay Milano), pleaded guilty to charges of willfully failing to file income tax returns for 1999 and 2000. All four defendants face sentencing on April 10, 2006 at 9:30 A.M. in Seattle.
In July 2005, Struckman was charged in a superseding indictment with additional counts of tax evasion for the 1999, 2000 and 2001 tax years. If convicted, Struckman faces a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in jail and $1 million in fines.
The charges contained in the indictment are only allegations. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
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06-017