A Naples resident was found guilty of forging IRS forms and concealing funds in Swiss bank accounts.
Records show that a Naples CPA was sentenced to 86 months in prison for hiding millions in Swiss bank accounts as the chief financial officer of a Russian natural gas company.
In Fort Myers federal court, U.S. District Court Judge Joan N. Ericksen sentenced Pelican Bay resident Mark Anthony Gyetvay on Thursday, according to an article by Liz Freeman of Naples Daily News
The U.S. Department of Justice ordered Gyetvay, 66, to pay $350,000 in fines and more than $4 million in restitution to the U.S. He will spend three years on supervised release.
In March, a federal jury convicted Gyetvay on four charges: failing to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, FBAR, making a false statement to the IRS, and failing to file tax returns.
U.S. taxpayers having financial interests or signatures over foreign financial accounts above $10,000 must file FBARs.
Gyetvay intends to surrender to authorities by Nov. 7.
In his Sept. 22, 2021, indictment, Gyetvay worked for a significant international corporation in the U.S., was transferred to its Moscow affiliate in 1995, and became a partner in 1996.
Two accounts under two corporate identities
According to LinkedIn, he was a PricewaterhouseCoopers partner in Russia from 1994 to 2003.
Novatek, a prominent Russian natural gas firm, appointed him CFO in 2003. As CFO, he guided the Russian gas company through its 2005 London Stock Exchange IPO.
Gyetvay created two Swiss Bank Coutts accounts in Geneva in 2005 and 2007 to hold more than $93 million, according to the federal authorities.
In 2005, he opened the first account through Belize-incorporated Opotiki Marketing. He was the single recipient. He opened a second Coutts account in December 2007 using Felicis Commercial Corp., a British Virgin Islands corporation.
According to the accusation, he requested that all Coutts communication be kept at the bank’s “hold mail” counter, preventing him from receiving mail in the U.S.
According to records, he removed his name from the accounts and made his then-wife, a Russian citizen, the beneficial owner over several years to hide his asset ownership. The indictment does not name his ex-wife.
Records suggest Gyetvay did not file personal tax returns for 2013 and 2014 despite being a CPA.
His accountant advised him to file foreign bank and financial account paperwork to report his management of Swiss bank accounts, but he did not.
The Justice Department says Gyetvay falsely filed with the IRS using the Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures, which is only available to taxpayers who fail to report offshore assets and income due to non-willful conduct, to avoid significant financial penalties.
When things got worse
In 2010, the Swiss Bank requested tax information from Gyetvay, which led him to name his then-wife’s Moscow address as the beneficiary of one account instead of her Naples address.
According to the accusation, Gyetvay cancelled the Coutts accounts and created accounts at Hyposwiss that year, listing his then-wife as the beneficiary and her Moscow address.
A Zurich wealth advice firm helped Gyetvay hide bank account ownership from 2005 to 2015, including using his ex wife’s name and passport although she had no role in the accounts.
Gyetvay took “multiple steps to execute the scheme” by failing to file income tax returns for 2009–2014 and filing fake tax reports that were years late, underreported his income, and omitted his Swiss account ownership.
He did not record $19.9 million in 2007 income, 7,000,000 Russian gas firm shares worth over $16 million, or Swiss account interest and dividend income.
The March 23 trial followed a 33-page indictment charging him with 15 charges of tax fraud. Records say the jury convicted him on four charges on March 28.
The original article can be found on Naples Daily News.
