< Previous page

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ed Ryan said in court that Currin planned to turn himself in to "in-patient treatment with regard to his medical issues today." No further explanation was given, and Ryan did not answer questions.

The indictment

The indictment details two situations that led to the charges against Currin: A scheme to use foreign trusts to help wealthy U.S. citizens evade federal income tax and his response to a grand jury subpoena in a securities fraud investigation.

In support of the foreign trust scheme, the indictment says, Howell Woltz told a potential client in 2002 that Currin "has done quite a bit of homework on foreign structures" and "reviewed our strategies and structures with the eye of a former prosecutor."

The indictment says that in 2004, Currin, Graves and Howell Woltz met with potential clients -- including two undercover IRS agents -- to discuss using offshore trusts to avoid paying federal taxes. The indictment says Graves told the undercover agents that they could avoid paying $250,000 in federal taxes on a $10 million payment for Internet gaming rights.

The IRS agents said they were told that they could do so by running the sale through two foreign trusts, the indictment says.

That same year, Currin and the others attended a conference in the Bahamas about "foreign trust structures and asset protection vehicles," the indictment says.

In 2005, Currin and Wellons were subpoenaed by a grand jury to turn over documents related to a client's business merger in connection with a federal securities fraud investigation. Prosecutors say Currin didn't turn over any records in response to a subpoena, even though he had three documents and gave two of them to Wellons.

Currin testified before the grand jury that he had never had any documents, according to the indictment. (Wellons had testified earlier that day that Currin had given him the documents after they were subpoenaed.) After further questioning, Currin changed his testimony, admitting he had given one document to Wellons, the indictment says.

After their grand jury testimony, Currin questioned Wellons, who said he testified that Currin gave him the documents.

"In response, Currin expressed anger at Wellons for deviating from the story on which they had agreed," the indictment says. "Currin then proposed another false story that Currin and Wellons could provide to the government in an effort to conceal their prior wrongdoings."

(News researcher Lamara Williams-Hackett contributed to this report.)

< Previous page