US Justice Department swoops on Mossack Fonseca quartet

Mossack Fonseca, the Panama Law firm  whose principals were advisors to President Varela when the Panama Papers scandal erupted is back in the public eye with one of its local lawyers facing charges by the US Justice Department that could carry  a 70 -year sentence

Panamanian lawyer Ramses Owens Saad 50, Germans HJ (Harald Joachim) von der Goltz and Dirk Brauer and the American Richard Gaffey have been accused of electronic fraud, money laundering, fraud to evade taxes and “other crimes related to the roles they played in a criminal scheme carried out for decades by Mossack Fonseca (MF) ” the Department of Justice announced on Tuesday, December 4 .

The research is derived from the revelations of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), about the activities of the Panamanian firm.

Three of the four accused have been detained: Brauer, Von Der Goltz, and Gaffey, according to the Justice Department Owens  – remains “free” in Panama ” He faces five charges, which carry a sentence of up

to 70 years in prison, according to the accusation filed by the District Attorney of the Southern District of New York.

The indictment of the prosecution mentions 11 charges; Owens is linked to five of them: conspiracy to defraud the United States; electronic fraud and conspiracy through electronic fraud; conspiracy to evade taxes, and money laundering. Owens, in conspiracy with Brauer, would have committed the acts between the years 2000 to 2017. Throughout the  17 years-Owens advised his Mossack Fonseca clients on how to evade the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS),

Von Der Goltz, 81 years old, was a client of Owens in Guatemala. Although of German nationality,  he resided in the United States, since his wife is American. He was arrested in London, on  Monday.

Gaffey, a 74-year-old US accountant, was arrested on Tuesday in Medfield, Massachusetts. While Brauer, who worked as an investment manager in Mossfon Asset Management, SA , affiliated with Mossack Fonseca, was arrested in Paris, on November 15.