A Florida woman and dual U.S.-Colombian citizen pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to defraud the United States by concealing tens of millions in undeclared foreign accounts, filing false tax returns, and evading taxes.
From 2010 to 2022, Gilda Rosenberg of Golden Beach, Florida, conspired with family members to hide over $90 million in offshore accounts in Andorra, Israel, Panama, and Switzerland.
Her family had maintained such accounts since the 1970s, and by the late 1990s, Rosenberg knew they were not reporting them to the IRS or paying required taxes.
In the early 2000s, the family consolidated assets in Credit Suisse accounts in Switzerland and the U.K., explicitly stating they wanted to hide their wealth from U.S. authorities.
After Credit Suisse closed the accounts in 2013 due to their U.S. status, they moved funds to Bank Leumi in Israel, Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) and PKB Privat Bank SA in Switzerland, and an Andorran bank. Rosenberg was the documented owner of accounts at UBP and the Andorran bank, where she falsely claimed to be a Colombian resident to evade U.S. taxes.
Rosenberg and her relatives failed to file required foreign bank reports (FBARs) and submitted false tax returns omitting offshore income.
In 2017, they attempted to disguise tax evasion by falsely claiming to have gifted assets to a relative who renounced U.S. citizenship. They also fabricated loan and investment documents to conceal asset transfers.
Between 2010 and 2017, Rosenberg failed to report $5.5 million in income, resulting in a $1.9 million tax loss to the IRS.
At her sentencing on May 30, she faces up to five years in prison, supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties.
Rosenberg previously pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of Texas to an information charging her with conspiracy to commit wire fraud related to a scheme to defraud the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) by making and presenting false reports to avoid fully paying contractually required commissions.
IRS Criminal Investigation’s International Tax & Financial Crimes Unit is investigating the case.