04/08/2009

News / FORMER PALM BEACHER PLEADS GUILTY TO CRIMINAL BANKRUPTCY, MORTGAGE AND TAX FRAUD CHARGES

R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, and Daniel W. Auer, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Miami Field Office, announced that defendant Linda Castre Gosman, a.k.a. Lin Gosman, a.k.a. Linda Castre, 60, pled guilty today to one count of bankruptcy fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §152; one count of mortgage fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §1014; one count of tax fraud, in violation of 26 U.S.C. §7206(1); and $350,000 in related forfeiture before the U.S. District Judge Kenneth L. Ryskamp in West Palm Beach, FL. The bankruptcy and mortgage fraud charges arose from a Superseding Indictment returned against Gosman on January 21, 2009. An Information charging Gosman with tax fraud was filed last week, on March 27, 2009. Sentencing has been scheduled for July 8, 2009 at 3:00 p.m.

As set forth in the Superseding Indictment, the recently filed Information, and the written proffer filed with her plea, on March 1, 2005, a judgment in the amount of $66,539,181.01 was issued against Linda Gosman, resulting from her husband’s bankruptcy. In a deposition held on June 10, 2005, she falsely testified that she used only certain storage units when, in fact, she used at least one other storage facility. Gosman admitted that she failed to disclose a storage unit at Public Storage, Inc., in West Palm Beach, FL, in which she kept valuable furniture, artwork and other significant items. She admitted that she had rented the unit under the name “Cord Development,” listing a New York address to which she no longer had any ties as her permanent address. She also admitted paying for the unit in cash, and, two days prior to the deposition at which she made the false statement, prepaying $1,626.90 in cash for rental of the unit through November 30, 2005. Gosman also admitted that she failed to disclose the $66 million March 1, 2005 judgment against her in a March 30, 2005 mortgage application for a $350,000 refinancing cashback mortgage loan on property located on Sea Steppes Court, Jupiter Florida.

In pleading guilty to the tax fraud charge, Gosman admitted that she filed a false 2004 federal income tax return. The return was false in that Gosman failed to disclose that she had a foreign bank account held in Switzerland; that she received distributions from a foreign Belize trust; and that she failed to report the substantial interest and dividend income she earned on monies she held in the foreign account. As part of the plea, Gosman also admitted that she had not filed federal income tax returns since 2005 and had failed to report substantial taxable interest and dividends earned from various foreign accounts she controlled. Gosman’s plea has her agreeing to pay $343,966 as restitution to the IRS for her 2004 - 2008 tax liabilities.

Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service. Acosta also thanked the Office of the United States Trustee for its assistance in this matter. The case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Carolyn Bell, Lynn Rosenthal, and Antonia Barnes.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.



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