June 27, 2002
For Immediate Release
P R E S S R E L E A S E
Edward H. Kubo, Jr., United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii, and Eileen J. O'Connor, Assistant Attorney General of the United States Department of Justice Tax Division, in Washington, D.C., announced today that a federal grand jury returned a five (5) count indictment against NATHAN H. SUZUKI, a current member of the House of Representatives for the State of Hawaii. As alleged in the indictment, Representative NATHAN H. SUZUKI, age 54, is charged with three (3) counts of filing false Form 1040 individual federal income tax returns for the tax years 1995, 1996 and 1997, with the Internal Revenue Service and two (2) counts of willful failure to disclose his financial interest in, or authority over, financial accounts located in Hong Kong and in the Kingdom of Tonga.
The indictment also alleges that during the calendar year 1996 an entity known as Harvest International King Coffee Ltd. had accounts located at the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd. over which Representative NATHAN H. SUZUKI held an interest in, or authority over, and transferred monies into accounts located in the Kingdom of Tonga, Switzerland and elsewhere. As further alleged in the indictment, some money transfers from the Kingdom of Tonga-based account of a Tongan entity, Pacific Vendors Equipment Ltd., were authorized from Representative NATHAN H. SUZUKI'S fax machine located at the House of Representatives, State of Hawaii Legislature.
Specifically, the indictment charges that the financial accounts in
which Representative NATHAN H. SUZUKI held an interest or had authority
over, received and disbursed the following amounts during the calendar
years 1995, 1996 and 1997:
SUMMARY OF DEPOSITS AND DISBURSEMENTS FROM FOREIGN ACCOUNTS
1995 1996 1997
Deposits into Harvest
International King Coffee
Ltd. Bank Accounts
$1,895,636.74 $1,586,797.11
$277,966.55
Disbursements from Harvest
International King Coffee
Ltd. Bank Accounts
$1,809,015.09 $1,657,678.00
$268,916.29
Deposits into Pacific
Vendors Equipment
Ltd. Bank Accounts
$335,058.26
$690,865.95
$70,019.41
Representative NATHAN SUZUKI faces a maximum penalty of up to ten years of imprisonment for willfully avoiding the foreign transaction disclosure requirements under 31 U.S.C. §§ 5314 and 5322(b) and a maximum fine of $500,000 upon conviction upon each of those two counts. Representative SUZUKI also faces a maximum penalty of up to three years of imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and the costs of prosecution upon conviction on each of the three counts of filing false federal income tax returns (26 U.S.C. § 7206(1)).
United States Attorney Kubo stated that indictments are not evidence of guilt, and that all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
This criminal investigation was conducted by the Internal Revenue Service,
Criminal Investigation Division, United States Department of Treasury and
the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution is being handled by
Assistant United States Attorney Leslie E. Osborne, Jr. and Special Attorney
Edward E. (Ted) Groves of the United States Department of Justice, Tax
Division, Western Criminal Enforcement Section, Washington, D.C.
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