Indy 500 and Dancing With the Stars winner, Helio Castroneves, has been indicted on Conspiracy to Defraud the US and Tax Evasion after allegedly hiding over $5 million in an offshore account. Hardly anyone had heard of this guy before his DWTS stint and hardly anyone has heard of him since. He was probably counting on that when he filtered that $5 mil into that account.
According to the indictment, Helio and two others are accused of using “an offshore Panamanian shell corporation Seven Promotions to conceal and disguise the true and correct amount of Helio Castroneves’ income from the Internal Revenue Service.”
They are accused of trying to “conceal and disguise” Helio’s income. One of the charges — that Helio received $2 million in salary from a Brazilian trading company but made it appear that he only received $200,000.
[From TMZ]
Those zeroes can be confusing sometimes, especially when there are that many of them, I guess. I’d have to speculate, of course, but if my income had as many digits as my telephone number, I might lose track.
Castroneves’ sister, Katiucia, and lawyer, Alan Miller, were also indicted with the same charges. Katiucia has got to be kicking herself today. There’s not much I wouldn’t do for my brothers, but I think I’d draw the line at committing felonies. I’m sure she thought she’d get a nice tidy sum if they pulled it off but her math now has to include a possible prison term. Each charge carries a possible 5 years in federal prison.
Helio is a tricky guy. He hid the demise of his relationship with fiance’ Alietta Vazquez during his Dancing With the Stars because he was worried it would make him look bad and he’d lose support in the public voted show. There were rumors he was having an affair with his dancing partner, Julianne Hough, who apparently just has incredible chemistry with any man she dances with because she was rumored to have been secretly dating Apollo Ohno the season before. She won the show and that classy looking mirror ball trophy with both of them.
Helio Castroneves is probably wondering what he can get for that trophy on eBay right about now.
Helio Castroneves is shown at the “23rd Annual Great Sports Legends Dinner to Cure Paralysis” in NY on 9/22/08. Credit: Donna Ward / PR Photos
I didn’t think non residents had to pay taxes in the states? Is he a permanent resident or a U.S. citizen?
EVERYONE has to pay taxes. If he’s a non-resident but working/making money in the US, the IRS will claim a portion of it.
It’s true.
He looks just like my ex-boyfriend! 😯
A lot of people do stuff like this he just got caught. Eh. Nothing in the world would be worth possibly losing my freedom. Even never having to worry about money again.. the possibility of getting caught would be too great. Does he have kids? Imagine not being able to see them.
Didn’t Wesley Snipes have tax evasion charges too? did he get out of that? It seems like A listers could b/c of the $ for good lawyers. This guy doesn’t seem quite there though.
You would lose track? Uhhh, if we had that kind of money, I doubt we would get confused with the 0’s. He’s just another dumbass who thought he could beat the system. 🙄
These blood sucking IRS leeches get your money regardless of the situation. I have been living in Korea for 12 years and still pay taxes to these US IRS vermin. I am a US citizen, but I live and work in Korea. My Canadian friends don’t have to pay a dime in taxes back to Canada. 😯
Remember- hiding you money in offshore accounts is only legal if you’re a huge multinational company with political leverage like Walmart.
Was Anne Hathaway dating him too?