It's been another few years since I visited this thread and, as time
goes by, memories do become less organized. However, there's a lot of
moments, events and things that are simply unforgettable.
As I said, the lawyer, Gerry, guided me through the legal nightmare when
I had no real-life experience. In most cases, the agents investigate
and then the prosecutors prosecute. In my case, the opposite was true.
They had investigated the crap out of the smuggler and his crew, but
they had hardly known about my situation during that two and a half year
stretch. The original informant did know about me but knew virtually
nothing about how I did my stuff. So he gave them my name along with
quite a few others. I was pretty much 'just another guy'.
Which was what I had always intended... I wanted to be just another
guy. My entire visible life was built on the premise that I'd show
income, pay taxes, live out in the open, and essentially present as a
'normal' citizen. And this worked pretty much as I intended. We
accumulated lots of things that were bought with visible funding from
sources that had paid the income taxes and whatever else was required
under the financial codes. There was our house (bought in 1980 on 2.5
acres) that eventually became the site of the bust. There was another
nice house (on 2 acres) in an exclusive community where my mother-in-law
was in residence. There was a fantastic house on top of a hill in Park
City Utah that we built from scratch. Then there were other things
that were funded with cash... like a bunch of buildings the were
assembled in the downtown area of Christiansted, St Croix and given the
name Market Square Mall... and on and on... I was driving a Saab 9000,
the Mrs. had a nice Mustang and I had bought her a vintage red and
white 1967 Corvette. Materially, we had plenty of toys and places. We
traveled to Europe, went to all the finest restaurants, shopped at all
the exclusive places, and didn't think all that much before spending
thousands on jewelry or whatever else struck our fancy.
But... and this is the big but... the entire premise of being 'just
another guy' went well only until I became a target. At that point, all
of the supporting cards that the above-board life was built on became
areas of exposure. Most all of my income was generated in an accounting
scheme where the employer wrote off my income. I would pay them cash
and get back salary/commission checks minus 10%. Meantime, they would
keep the cash and reduce their own taxes by showing an expense. I don't
know how much the accountant made but I never cared much about that
sort of thing. If it worked, who was I to tell someone what they
deserved to make.
There were so many ways the money surfaced I hardly recall them all.
And then there was the 'under the table' stuff... We'd buy the work
cars and rent the work spaces with all cash. Believe me when I say that very few
people refuse cash. The assemblage on St. Croix was almost entirely
done with a combination of cash and banking. If an owner wanted more
than the bank would finance, well, that was no problem when a bag was on
the table. Then the owner would 'sell' for a 'bargain' and the bank
would be happy to finance the deal based on the 'loan to value' formula. And the thing was that it wasn't all done that way. It was a montage of different methods and deals. I had a partner who was seriously connected there and, over the prior years, had some very successful businesses there. You couldn't just look and single out any one transaction as unusual.
Thursday, August 10, 2023
Still Kicking The Tires
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