A Brazilian-American businessman charged with dodging U.S. taxes for decades using accounts at Swiss banks including Credit Suisse Group AG was granted a $15 million bail package on Tuesday.
Dan Rotta, 77, who was arrested March 9 at Miami International Airport as he prepared to fly to Barcelona, must remain under house arrest with electronic monitoring, a federal judge in Miami ruled. Prosecutors had sought to keep Rotta locked up, arguing he's lied to the Internal Revenue Service for 35 years and has a motive to flee the U.S. before his trial on tax charges.
During the hearing in Miami federal court, prosecutors elaborated on their claims in an arrest complaint that Rotta had hidden more than $20 million from the IRS, using "pseudonyms, complicated corporate structures, and nominees" to conceal offshore assets and income. Rotta has a net worth of $38.5 million, prosecutors told the judge.
Even before Rotta's arrest, the U.S. Justice Department was weighing whether Credit Suisse breached a 2014 plea agreement in which it paid $2.6 billion, admitted helping thousands of Americans evade taxes, and promised to identify other tax cheats. Rotta hid assets from the the IRS in two dozen secret bank accounts between 1985 and 2020, according to prosecutors.
Rotta must post 20% of the $15 million bail package or $3 million in cash, and he's required to place a corporation holding nine properties in escrow, US Magistrate Judge Jared Strauss ruled.
Decades of Deception
Rotta, a citizen of the U.S., Brazil, and Romania, relied on decades of deception, prosecutors said during the hearing. They said he lied to authorities, shifted money between himself and his cousin in Brazil, and used his passport from Brazil to avoid disclosing his U.S. citizenship to Swiss banks.
Prosecutor Sean Beaty told a judge that IRS agents estimate Rotta owes at least $9.25 million in back taxes, $10 million in interest and $6.9 million for a fraud penalty.
IRS Special Agent James O'Leary, who wrote the arrest affidavit, also testified about the case against Rotta, who recently moved from Fisher Island, Florida, to Aventura.
Rotta was charged with conspiring to defraud the U.S. and making false statements to the IRS. He faces as many as five years in prison on each count if convicted.
A spokesperson for UBS Group AG, which now owns Credit Suisse, didn't respond to a request for comment.
In a regulatory filing last month, UBS said: "Credit Suisse AG has provided information to US authorities regarding potentially undeclared US assets held by clients at Credit Suisse AG since the May 2014 plea. Credit Suisse AG continues to cooperate with the authorities."
At the hearing, Rotta was shackled in a prisoner's jump suit, accompanied by a U.S. marshal. He didn't speak but whispered with his lawyers, jiggled his legs and occasionally shook his head while the government presented its evidence.
