Audio By Carbonatix
Watching Helio Castroneves sob joyfully as he sipped from his
victory bottle of milk, Riptide couldn’t help but feel all warm and
fuzzy. After all, we like it when a Miami celeb can get over on The Man
and continue making millions more dollars entertaining us. When
Castroneves won his third Indianapolis 500 this past May 24, it was
like he was sending a special F-you to the federal government for
almost ruining his career.
To recap, Castroneves almost didn’t make it to victory lane thanks
to the IRS and Miami federal prosecutors, who had accused the native
Brazilian and his sister/business manager of hiding more than $5.5
million in income. The feds charged the siblings with six charges of
tax evasion plus one count of conspiracy. They also indicted
Castroneves’s tax lawyer, Alan Miller of Michigan.
Thankfully, Castroneves still had enough money in the bank to hire
high-powered criminal defense attorneys Roy Black and Howard Srebnick,
who successfully convinced a Miami federal jury that the $5.5 million
was sent to a deferred income account in the Netherlands. When that
account comes due, Castroneves will pay his U.S. taxes as he intended
all along, Black informed jurors, who bought the defense. This past
April 17, the jury cleared Castroneves, his sister, and Miller on the
tax evasion charges. They deadlocked on the conspiracy charge, which
the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami quickly dropped.
