The Department of Justice has added another bank to the list of financial institutions it has successfully targeted as part of its crackdown on tax evasion. Bank Leumi, an Israel bank with a presence in seven countries, has entered into a deferred prosecution with the Department of Justice.  

Those who earn income from offshore financial accounts must report the offshore accounts to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and must also declare the money earned. While most people understand this requirement because U.S. citizens are required to pay taxes on all income, there is also another legal mandate that not everyone knows about that applies to almost everyone with foreign bank accounts.  

Sovereign Management & Legal LTD is a company that the United States government believes helped U.S. citizens evade their income tax obligations. The U.S. government does not yet know who used the services of Sovereign to move money and assets offshore to hide them from the Internal Revenue Service and avoid paying income taxes that were due. 

A U.S. citizen and Kentucky resident has been indicted for alleged tax evasion. The indictment was recently unsealed and the man who has been charged, Peter Canale, faces a maximum sentence of five years of incarceration. The announcement that the indictment was unsealed was made by the Acting Special Agent for the Internal Revenue Service in New York, as well as by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.