WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Attorney
General Eileen J. O'Connor of the Tax Division
announced that a federal jury in Seattle returned
a guilty verdict against Laura Jean Marie
Struckman, a participant in the Institute
of Global Prosperity (IGP). She was convicted
of conspiracy to structure a financial transaction.
Trial evidence showed that Struckman, formerly
of Renton, Wash., and an unindicted co-conspirator
engaged in a 14-month conspiracy from June
1997 through August 1998 to evade currency
reporting requirements by making cash withdrawals
of over $960,000 in 122 separate transactions,
none of which exceeded $10,000. The evidence
further established that Struckman was the
co-signer on three nominee bank accounts,
opened at the U.S. Bank of Washington, into
which she and another individual deposited
over $3.7 million, earned from IGP, during
the time period of the conspiracy.
Struckman faces a maximum statutory penalty
of five years imprisonment and a $250,000
fine. She is scheduled to be sentenced by
the Chief U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour
Aug. 8, 2003.
In other cases related to IGP, Jeffrey and
Shoshana Szuch and Margo Jordan all pleaded
guilty to using foreign bank accounts to commit
tax evasion. According to indictments in those
cases, the government showed that IGP was
an organization that hosted offshore seminars
for promoters of abusive trusts and anti-tax
schemes. IGP was also known by other names,
including Global Prosperity Marketing Group
(GPMG) and Global Prosperity Group (GPG).
Members of IGP marketed and sold various IGP
products, including an "education course"
named "Global 1" priced at $1,250;
a ticket to a three-day offshore seminar named
"Global 2" priced at $6,250; and
a ticket to a five-day offshore seminar named
"Global 3" priced at $18,750. The
indictments alleged that the Global 2 and
Global 3 seminars brought together portions
of the IGP membership to hear, among other
things, presentations by individuals and organizations
involved in the sale and operation of foreign
trusts designed in part to conceal income
from the Internal Revenue Service.
The Struckman case was investigated by agents
of IRS Criminal Investigation. It was prosecuted
by Tax Division trial attorneys Mark T. Odulio
and Christopher J. Maietta.
