"Florida's been a ground zero for big-name tax evasion"

[Sancho]

This may be a great shock to the rest of the county, but for decades Florida has been the haven for tax evasion. Jeb, Chain-Gang Charlie, and friends would like to keep it that way. From OJ to numerous Wall-Streeters, if you want to hide money, move assets offshore, or find officials who look the other way - come to Florida. There is no state income tax, little oversight of sales tax, and very friendly state law. No one knows if there will really be a tougher IRS, but most down here suspect that the SEC was pretty effective compared to investigations of tax evasion of rich folks in Florida. Is there change coming? I certainly hope so! If the feds really file tax evasion cases - it will keep us busy in Florida for a long time.

"Like many things financially apocalyptic lately, Florida's proved to be a ground zero on tax evasion issues.
That was reinforced Monday when a get-tough U.S. Justice Department proudly unveiled a document that amounts to a scorecard of its tax-enforcement efforts in fiscal 2008.
In one case, one year ago this month in an Ocala courtroom, actor Wesley Snipes received a maximum three-year federal prison sentence after being convicted on three misdemeanor charges of failing to file his tax returns. While the judge waived a fine against Snipes, he must pay millions of dollars in back taxes, interest and penalties.
The government estimates his total debt could exceed $20 million.
In another cited case, a Florida yacht company accountant — Steven Michael Rubinstein, 55, of Boca Raton — last week became the first U.S. citizen charged with filing a false tax return in a federal investigation into wealthy citizens who hid assets from tax collectors in the Swiss bank UBS. He's been released on $12 million bail.
That's just the latest UBS event in Florida's courts. In January, authorities here charged Raoul Weil — a senior executive with UBS — with conspiring to hide $20 billion in assets from the IRS using secret overseas accounts for thousands of customers. Weil's attorney says his client is innocent.
Another UBS banker, Bradley Birkenfeld, pleaded guilty last year in Fort Lauderdale to fraud conspiracy charges and has been cooperating with U.S. investigators.
Earlier, Birkenfeld allegedly agreed to help billionaire U.S. client Igor Olenicoff. The banker bought diamonds with secret Swiss funds and brought them into this country undeclared by jamming the loose diamonds into a tube of toothpaste."

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/personalfinance/article991946.ece