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Houston billionaire indicted over concealing $2B income

Nice Guy Eddie

By Nice Guy Eddie
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Nice Guy Eddie

Nice Guy Eddie 13,508

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3 minutes ago, Johnny Sack said:

Once you have a few hundred million, it’s really, really dumb to do financial crimes that can put you in prison.  
 

I mean it’s always dumb.  But once you have eff you money, don’t do anything in the gray area.  

Don't say this often, but I agree with Sack. When you get to be that rich, you have the freedom to pretty much do whatever you want in this world. The one entity that can take that away from you is the govt. Pay your taxes, and you will be left alone. It's obviously fine to work to avoid taxes but briefly skimming the indictment, he knowingly hid income from the govt.  Allegedly.

Really bad sign when the Vista Equity CEO, Robert Smith, just paid a $138m fine and presumably testified against Brockman. Robert Smith made headlines last year when he paid off the student loan debt for graduating Morehouse College students.

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Doc Reeves

Doc Reeves 6,434

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44 minutes ago, Johnny Sack said:

Once you have a few hundred million, it’s really, really dumb to do financial crimes that can put you in prison.  
 

I mean it’s always dumb.  But once you have eff you money, don’t do anything in the gray area.  

That’s certainly what one should do. 
 

thats definitely not always the case. 

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davidg

davidg 4,036

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2 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robert-brockman-tax-fraud-2-billion-doj/

If true, it would seem to be an expensive fine to avoid prison. If you were in your 20s or 30s in Houston during the 90s, you probably know someone that worked for this guy at UCS.

My wife ran a support desk in that same market as UCS and hired a ton of people from them after they finished their indentured service.  Heard lots of stories of stuff from there that would make Lumbergh seems like a great boss.

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TxTower

TxTower 650

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Don't say this often, but I agree with Sack. When you get to be that rich, you have the freedom to pretty much do whatever you want in this world. The one entity that can take that away from you is the govt. Pay your taxes, and you will be left alone. It's obviously fine to work to avoid taxes but briefly skimming the indictment, he knowingly hid income from the govt.  Allegedly.
Really bad sign when the Vista Equity CEO, Robert Smith, just paid a $138m fine and presumably testified against Brockman. Robert Smith made headlines last year when he paid off the student loan debt for graduating Morehouse College students.

So hedge fund CEO pays a $138mm fine and rolls over on one of his biggest clients?

What kind of prison did they threaten him with - French Guiana?
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TxTower

TxTower 650

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Don't say this often, but I agree with Sack. When you get to be that rich, you have the freedom to pretty much do whatever you want in this world. The one entity that can take that away from you is the govt. Pay your taxes, and you will be left alone. It's obviously fine to work to avoid taxes but briefly skimming the indictment, he knowingly hid income from the govt.  Allegedly.
Really bad sign when the Vista Equity CEO, Robert Smith, just paid a $138m fine and presumably testified against Brockman. Robert Smith made headlines last year when he paid off the student loan debt for graduating Morehouse College students.

So hedge fund CEO pays a $138mm fine and rolls over on one of his biggest clients?

What kind of prison did they threaten him with - French Guiana?
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Nice Guy Eddie

Nice Guy Eddie 13,508

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1 hour ago, TxTower said:


So hedge fund CEO pays a $138mm fine and rolls over on one of his biggest clients? emoji15.png

What kind of prison did they threaten him with - French Guiana?

Smith is married to a Playmate of the Year from Port Lavaca. Maybe he didn't want to be away from her for too long. 

hope-dworaczyk-height1-1000x750.jpg

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Guest Lobo

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12 hours ago, TxTower said:


So hedge fund CEO pays a $138mm fine and rolls over on one of his biggest clients? emoji15.png

What kind of prison did they threaten him with - French Guiana?

Robert Smith is the not the CEO of a hedge fund.  On business threads, we gotta stop being lazy and call any private sector enterprise, "The Multinational Corporations", and financial services institution, "The Big Banks", and anybody in the VC/PE space, "Hedge Fund Managers"  It makes us sound like Hugo. 

This explains so much about how quickly Smith's tax woes went away though.  Pretty amazing how quickly a billionare can take care of a serious tax issue, provided he's an actual billionaire and not a total fraud.  

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Updawg

Updawg 2,266

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My wife ran a support desk in that same market as UCS and hired a ton of people from them after they finished their indentured service.  Heard lots of stories of stuff from there that would make Lumbergh seems like a great boss.

I remember hearing horror stories about ucs. They preyed on fresh college grads I remember.
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Walden Ponderer

Walden Ponderer 12,639

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Bob's got a June competency hearing. I'm gonna make popcorn.

I worked for him for more than 15 years; salary didn't suck, exactly, though the health insurance sure did. Anyway, having done software QA for one of the most dishonest men ever to have lived is really an eye-opener. The things we did for internal security so not only did no data ever get out, but no information about how we kept data from getting out ever got out, were measures that took paranoia to an eleven.

We weren't allowed to have artwork on the walls, ostensibly because it made us behave in a more professional manner. I used to think it was because he was just a dick, but I'm now realizing he didn't want any surface that could conceal any sort of wires or cameras. Seriously.

Dude isn't just a selfish, evil git, he's also paranoid to a degree that has to be seen to be believed.

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Nice Guy Eddie

Nice Guy Eddie 13,508

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If you're declared incompetent to stand trial, I assume the IRS can still go after the money.

And if you want to be declared incompetent, is that difficult to fake?

Dr.: Mr. Brockman - remember these words. Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.

Dr: Repeat the words back.

Brockman: Repeat what back. Can I legally spy on my employees?

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Walden Ponderer

Walden Ponderer 12,639

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23 hours ago, pantone159 said:

What is UCS? I cannot figure out what that acronym means.

Universal Computer Systems, aka Dealer Computer Services, which bought Reynolds & Reynolds via Vista Equity Partners (a slush fund Bob trumped up) and claimed it was a merger. His paper tiger figurehead at Vista sold him out and turned state's evidence, which is how we ended up where we are.

Anyway, the sad irony is, the product Bob was pushing at UCS really was the superior product in the market at the time (dealership software is an unusual vertical market, but I won't bore you with details), but his inherent crookedness kept it from really taking off, as the big players had zero interest in having their data stored by a crook. So, the chump version of his Ferrari of a software platform is now the industry standard. He won't be remembered for any of his actual contributions, because his fundamental character flaws are all anyone will think of when they think of him at all.

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31,438

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21 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

If you're declared incompetent to stand trial, I assume the IRS can still go after the money.

And if you want to be declared incompetent, is that difficult to fake?

Dr.: Mr. Brockman - remember these words. Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.

Dr: Repeat the words back.

Brockman: Repeat what back. Can I legally spy on my employees?

Yes, the IRS can always go for the money.  That's in the nature of a civil action.

Some tax underpayments/avoidance are stupidity, or good-faith mistakes relying on the good-faith advice.

Those stay civil actions.

When there's evidence that the tax avoidance was intentional and fraudulent, that's when it becomes a criminal case.

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