By David Voreacos and Mort Lucoff - Aug 16, 2010 2:13 PM CT Mon Aug 16, 2010
Two Miami area hotel developers pleaded not guilty to hiding more than $150
million in assets from the Internal Revenue Service and persuaded a judge to
let the same law firm represent both of them.
Mauricio Cohen Assor, 77, and his son, Leon Cohen Levy, 46, appeared today
in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where they face trial on Sept. 7.
They were indicted for a second time on Aug. 3 on charges of conspiracy and
filing false tax returns.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Neiman said that Cohen Levy faces as much as 14
years in prison and Cohen Assor could serve 11 years. U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Seltzer asked Cohen Assor if he had heard the
potential sentences.
“I heard them but I don’t accept them,” Cohen Assor said.
Seltzer quizzed the men on whether they would waive the potential conflict
of interest posed by having the law firm Carlton Fields of Miami representing
each of them. They agreed to be defended by the firm instead of hiring separate
lawyers.
The men are accused of using shell companies such as American Leisure
Resorts Inc. to conceal their ownership of a $45 million investment portfolio;
$55 million in Miami Beach commercial properties; homes in New York and
Florida; and cars including a Rolls-Royce Phantom, a Porsche Carrera GT and a
Ferrari Testarossa. They failed to pay taxes on their assets, prosecutors said.
April 15 Arrests
The Cohens were arrested April 15 as part of a tax-day sweep targeting
offshore tax evasion. They have been held without bail since their arrest. The
Cohens developed high-end hotels under the name Flatotel International.
After selling the New York Flatotel in 2000, they used “numerous
nominee and shell corporations” to hide $33 million in proceeds from tax
collectors, prosecutors said in the indictment. They transferred the money to
an account at London- based HSBC Holdings Plc, according to prosecutors’
filings.
The Cohens didn’t have an ownership stake in American Leisure Resorts
and were employees of the company, which bought and sold expensive properties,
lawyers for the men have said in court papers.
The Cohens are involved in litigation over the sale of the Flatotel with CDR
Creances SA, a company set up by the French government to sell unprofitable
businesses of Credit Lyonnais SA.
The case is USA v. Assor, 10-cr-60159, U.S. District Court, Southern
District of Florida (Fort Lauderdale).
