![]() The defense also claims that the racer fully intends to pay taxes on the $5 million payment when he receives the money in May 2009. The defense contends that what has been labeled a shell corporation was in actuality a legitimate business never owned or managed by Castroneves, but rather by his father and a Brazil-based attorney. ![]() Prosecutor Matt Axelrod told the jury, "When it came time to pay taxes on the millions of dollars that made, he turned his back. In total, the United States is seeking tax payment on roughly $5.5 million earned between 19, including the deferred check from Penske plus assorted income earned while Castroneves drove for Hogan Racing in '99. Then, with the aid of the third co-defendant, Michigan sports attorney Alan Miller, they schemed to bog down the delivery of a $5 million deferred royalty payment from Penske Racing, buying time to devise a more ironclad plan for tax-free delivery of the money. The United States believes that Castroneves - with the aid of co-defendant Kati Castroneves - founded and secretly ran a Panama-based shell corporation for which the only real purpose was to protect income earned in the U.S. The titillation of an initial witness list that included three-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson and American business mogul Roger Penske (neither is expected to testify) has given way to a month of tedious testimony from accountants, bookkeepers and IRS investigators.īut buried beneath the doldrums of overexamined paperwork and contracts involving two languages over three continents is what boils down to a relatively simple case. A general lack of, as one Indianapolis sports writer put it, "sexiness." The lack of national media attention has been blamed by print and digital assignment editors on the excruciating minutiae of a tax law case. And while the national media may no longer be interested in the day-to-day details of the case, there is no shortage of people who are, scattered from Sao Paolo, Brazil, to Mooresville, N.C., and from the back lots of Hollywood to paddocks and locker rooms across the entire American sports landscape. As the trial resumed Monday morning for this its fourth and likely final week, that answer will be here soon. "The good news is that this plane will be landing soon." Then, as he turned to enter the building, Castroneves paused and dug deep for one of his trademark smiles. "There are moments when you climb, moments when you dive and moments of turbulence. "It is like being on an airplane," the 33-year-old Brazilian said as the members of their eight-person legal defense team began to arrive. They came to watch the two-time Indy 500 winner and "Dancing with the Stars" champion make the walk of shame up the sidewalk to face charges by the IRS that he had failed to report and pay taxes on more than $5 million.īut now, little more than a week away from being handed their fate by a jury of their peers, the racer and his sister/co-defendant sat together in the misty morning rain, totally alone. ![]() Three weeks earlier this same municipal courtyard was the sight of a small media circus, a waiting mob that included television stations from Miami, Indianapolis and South America, newspaper reporters, sports writers, even "Entertainment Tonight" and TMZ. Kati quietly checked her phone for e-mails while Helio, never one to sit still, jumped to his feet and launched into stretching exercises to try to burn off some nervous energy. Federal Courthouse downtown, just the two of them. on a damp weekday morning, Helio Castroneves and his sister Katiucia sat together on a bench outside the U.S. You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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