United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut
Press Release

WILTON MAN SENTENCED FOR FILING FALSE TAX RETURN

Kevin J. O’Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that BRIAN M. O’CONNELL, age 50, of Wilton, Connecticut, has been sentenced to four years of probation, the first six months of which must be served in home confinement, for willfully aiding and assisting in the filing of a false 1999 tax return for his corporation, the O’Connell Group, Inc. During sentencing proceedings on Friday, October 29, in New Haven federal court, Senior United States District Judge Peter C. Dorsey furthered ordered O’CONNELL to pay a fine in the amount of $7,500, and to perform 300 hours of community service during the first two years of his probation. In addition, O’CONNELL was ordered to file all tax returns and resolve all tax arrearage and penalties. On April 19, 2004, O’CONNELL pleaded guilty to the charge.

According to documents filed with the Court and to statements made in court, O’CONNELL is the operator of The O’Connell Group, Inc., which is an executive recruiting business. In 1999, after reading the book “The Offshore Advantage” by Terry Neal, O’CONNELL contacted Offshore Corporate Services and Terry Neal for advice regarding protection of personal assets. With the assistance of Neal and others, and through the Nevis American Trust Company, O’CONNELL set up three international business corporations (International Recruiters Cooperative, Leading Edge Recruiting Network and Eagle Capital Finance Corporation) and one corporation in Nevada (Private Source Lending). O’CONNELL then used these corporations to divert corporate funds offshore and to bring funds back into the United States as fictitious loans.

Nevis American Trust Company of Nevis, West Indies, establishes offshore bank accounts in Nevis and other foreign countries in order for its clients to conduct financial transactions in secret, and to hide income and assets from the Internal Revenue Service.

In order to move money offshore, O’CONNELL created false invoices from International Recruiters Cooperative to The O’Connell Group to justify the payments that were made to the offshore corporation. Amounts sent offshore were then taken as false deductions on The O’Connell Group’s Corporate Tax Return. International Recruiters Cooperative then transferred most of its money to Leading Edge Recruiting Network for fictitious business expenses. Leading Edge Recruiting Network then loaned money to Eagle Capital Finance Corporation, which loaned money to Private Source Lending. O’CONNELL then loaned himself money from Private Source Lending in the form of a mortgage that was secured by his personal residence. O’CONNELL also took false deductions on his personal income tax return for interest paid on that fictitious mortgage loan.

Through this scheme, the tax loss to the Government was $143,718.

Due to O’CONNELL’s cooperation with the Government in its investigation and prosecution of the promoters of this tax evasion scheme, Judge Dorsey departed downward from the Sentencing Guideline range of 15 to 21 months of imprisonment.

On April 13, 2004, Neal pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States by impeding the Internal Revenue Service.

This case was investigated by special agents of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation.

CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
thomas.carson@usdoj.gov