If you wondering how billionaires like Warner, the creator of Beanie Babies, can avoid paying taxes on billions, you'll want to read my latest book, Offshore Transparency by C, Ingraham RTRP. This book explains in detail how billionaires like Warner have successfully avoided millions in taxes over the decades.
CHICAGO (AP) -- The billionaire creator of Beanie Babies was sentenced to two years of probation, but no prison time, on Tuesday for tax evasion on $25 million in income he had stashed away in Swiss bank accounts.
H.
Ty Warner, 69, appeared somber but composed as he made a brief
statement before receiving his sentence in a Chicago federal courtroom,
apologizing and saying he felt "shame and embarrassment" for what he had
done.
He
could have been sentenced to up to five years in prison, and
prosecutors were seeking prison time for Warner, who pleaded guilty last
year to a single tax evasion count.
U.S.
District Judge Charles Kocoras, however, sentenced Warner to probation
and 500 hours of community service, praising the toy magnate for the
charity work he's done.
Kocoras
said his decision was difficult, but he added, "Society will be better
served by allowing him to continue his good works."
The
judge said Warner's "public humiliation" and "private torment" as a
result of his criminal prosecution was a punishment he's already paid.
Warner
was among the highest-profile prosecutions in the federal government's
push to go after Americans concealing income from the IRS overseas,
often in Switzerland. Prosecutors say at one point, Warner was
concealing as much as $107 million.
Beanie
Babies first appeared in the mid-1990s, triggering a craze that
generated hundreds of millions of dollars for Westmont, Ill.-based TY
Inc., of which Warner is the sole owner. Forbes recently put his net
worth at $2.6 billion.
The
small, plush toys have heart-shaped name tags and are made to resemble
bears and other animals. Some are designed to look like cartoon or comic
book characters. As collectibles, some fetch thousands of dollars.
Warner
maintained a secret offshore account starting in 1996 with the
Switzerland-based financial services company UBS. He earned $3.1 million
in gross income in 2002 through the account, but didn't report it,
prosecutors say.
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