What an idiot -does he have any idea what is going on? #FBAR #FATCA #TransitionTax #GILTI doh……Former Hamilton school superintendent pleads guilty to forging documents to get his children U.S. citizenship https://t.co/2dc9RKkViK via @torontostar
— Tricia Moon
Just a little something likely to amuse most Brockers
Really, it boggles the mind……..would appear nothing further reached the Consulate.
Those kids don’t know how lucky they are!
Excerpts:
Patrick Rocco’s case, which the judge called “puzzling,” leaves loose ends that Thursday’s court proceeding failed to answer.
Topping the list is why Rocco, who had a good career, no criminal record and a history of community service, broke the law to qualify his kids for dual citizenship.
While looking into the expenses, Figeuiredo inadvertently discovered emails between Rocco and Patrick Elliott, a vice-principal with the board, that hatched a plan to alter documents for the citizenship applications.
Rocco’s children are now aged 22, 21 and 19. He has been married 24 years.
On Jan. 5, 2015, Rocco, who was born in the United States, received correspondence from the U.S. Consulate in response to his inquiry about obtaining U.S. citizenship for his children.
The consulate outlined the criteria, which included that one parent needed to be a U.S. citizen at the time of the child’s birth and living in the U.S. for periods totalling five years prior to the child’s birth, at least two of which were after the parent’s 14th birthday.
Rocco, who lived in Canada continuously since 1970 and has dual citizenship, did not meet the criteria.
On July 14, 2015 Rocco sent an email to Elliott that said: “I will call you, but need to change address on a PDF — I have the original as well that I scanned — any thoughts? Need to put in my US address and will explain.”
A series of email exchanges over the next month has Rocco sending two Niagara University documents to Elliott asking him to change the address he lived at while he was a student there from one in Niagara Falls, Ont. (where he actually lived from April 1977 to December 1986) to one in Lewiston, N.Y., where he fraudulently said he lived from 1984 to 1987.
On Aug. 4, 2017, Rocco was arrested by Hamilton police…..charged with two counts of making forged documents and two counts of using forged documents.
Court heard there was no evidence of plans to use the citizenships for financial gain or to jeopardize U.S. security.
“This was the misguided result of an effort to give broader options to his children,” Rocco’s lawyer told the court, without elaborating.
“It doesn’t matter.”
The fact that the IRS can’t put a levy or lien on non-US assets and income matters a great deal to a lot of us.
“I think the IRS did either issue one or both of those notices,”
You’re mistaken. The conditions for requesting assistance were fully met.
As I said – you attribute to the IRS powers it doesn’t have.
“The fact that the IRS can’t put a levy or lien on non-US assets and income matters a great deal to a lot of us.”
It still doesn’t matter. The IRS can put a levy or lien on US assets even when there are zero US assets, and that levy or lien enables the IRS to tell CRA to collect. If the victim gets the notice in time to petition US Tax Court then there will be a short delay while US Tax Court rules for the IRS. If the victim doesn’t get the notice in time (such as someone named Atuke living in Kenya) then there will be no delay. This is how the IRS meets conditions for requesting assistance without the IRS filing suit in any country.
“The IRS can put a levy or lien on US assets even when there are zero US assets, ”
That doesn’t make sense.
“This is how the IRS meets conditions for requesting assistance ”
You’re mistaken. The conditions for requesting assistance are set out in the treaty. Dewees provided the information allowing assessment; he refused to pay; assistance was requested, and given.
It’s beginning to sound like an echo chamber in here.
One word: Pomerantz.
US is suing him in Seattle and getting nowhere because he’s dual, living in Vancouver, with no US assets. They can’t even serve him with papers.
The Pomerantz case is over, for now. Pomerantz represented himself and won.
https://taxlitigator.me/2017/06/28/david-slays-an-fbar-goliath-pro-se-taxpayer-wins-motion-to-dismiss-dojs-complaint-by-evan-j-davis/
The horse that Norman D is flogging died a long time ago.
Yep.
I missed that bit of news somehow. Go Pomerantz!
The writer of that David & Goliath article is at the same firm as Rettig.
Rocco probably would have gotten away with it but he was under investigation for credit card involving the Hamilton school board. He broke Canadian law, even though no Canadian nor the Canadian government was a wronged party via this forgery intended for the US State Department.
I guess this case answers the question, for those who wish to stay in compliance with Canadian law, whether one may use a forged CLN or other false document to avoid this fiasco vis-à-vis Canadian banks.
Will be very interesting to see how this plays out. I confess to a tiny flicker of concern regarding those “no” statements on FATCA forms. I am also a bit puzzled as to why he’s being charged in Canada for faking documents on a US immigration matter.
Another lesson here is do your own forgeries. Seems like he got caught because he was emailing documents to someone else to have PDFs edited!
“ I confess to a tiny flicker of concern regarding those “no” statements on FATCA forms. I am also a bit puzzled as to why he’s being charged in Canada for faking documents on a US immigration matter.”
It’s forgery, which is presumably a criminal offence in Canada.
Telling a bankster you’re not a USC presumably is not a criminal offence in Canada.
Yes, the forgery itself is the criminal offence he’s charged with and that apparently took place in Canada. Our Criminal Code, s. 366, specifies that if one creates a forged document it doesn’t matter if their intention is for use within or outside Canada.
Still puzzled as to why they’d think it worth charging him. Rather a victimless crime as far as Canada’s concerned.
I stick with my speculation as stated up-thread.
@Nononymous, Prosecutors throw the book at defendants in the hopes that something will stick.
@ND
“Those who don’t comply don’t have to renounce.”
So then, what happens when it’s time to renew our passports, if we have not complied?
“When I was at the consulate to relinquish last year, there were two couples there to apply for citizenship for their newborn children. One of the couples was German – where the mother had dual citizenship and was thrilled to be passing it on to her baby. The other couple’s infant had a USC-only father and an eastern European mother, and might easily have lived without a CRBA, but Dad apparently didn’t realize there was no rush to claim US citizenship for his child (and was surely ignorant of CBT).
It’s must be quite a big rock all these people are hiding under.”
No rock at all. How does one learn about this? The nightly news? The newspaper?
The difficulty many have reported of trying to inform family and friends indicates it is very difficult to learn of it through persinal relationships. How does one find out about it except by accident?
“Those who don’t comply don’t have to renounce.”
‘So then, what happens when it’s time to renew our passports, if we have not complied?’
Renew your passport.
Before the IRS tells the State Department to revoke a passport, the IRS has to assess taxes and/or penalties, which can either be honest assessments (sometimes, maybe) or trumped up. Anyway, it seems that the only US non-resident citizens that the IRS assesses are the idiots (including me) who try to comply. The IRS seems to be ignoring non-residents who don’t try to comply.