A matter of trust

Before he died earlier this year, Robert Brockman stood accused of multiple charges of wire fraud and money laundering in what was the biggest tax evasion case of its kind in U.S. history. During a 20-year period, he allegedly hid over $2 billion in income from the IRS in secret offshore accounts, using encrypted communications and false documents. 

A trial date to decide the fate of Brockman, the CEO of software company Reynolds and Reynolds, had been set for February 2023 following his 39-count, grand-jury indictment in 2020. According to that indictment, Brockman had woven a web of complex offshore companies and trusts to hide capital gains earned from his investments in private equity fund Vista Equity Partners. Those earnings were then allegedly funneled to secret bank accounts in Switzerland and Bermuda. [See “CEO of Multibillion-dollar Software Company Indicted for Decades-long Tax Evasion and Wire Fraud Schemes,” U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), press release, Oct. 15, 2020 and “Robert Brockman, billionaire charged in $2 billion tax evasion case, dies at 81,” by Ken Dilanian, NBC News, Aug. 8, 2022.]