Feds confiscate more accounts

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - The federal government has seized foreign bank accounts controlled by a family member of the alleged mastermind of the D.C. tax office scandal, according to warrants filed Thursday.

The seizure warrants shed light on how federal officials are broadening their search for the missing money in the largest government scam in the District’s history. The warrants remain under seal at the U.S. District Court of Maryland in Greenbelt, but their existence reveals new channels used to cash and launder the six-figure checks allegedly stolen from the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue.

Prosecutors have acknowledged publicly that the investigation has recovered only about $8 million of the at least $20 million embezzled from the city’s treasury. Authorities are concerned that some of the missing money was deposited in overseas bank accounts, making it difficult to trace.

The warrants filed Thursday describe three bank accounts owned by Richard Walters, the brother of Harriette Walters, the ousted tax office manager and alleged ringleader, according to the court filings.

The newly revealed bank accounts were opened in the FirstBank Virgin Islands, Bank of America and Scotiabank, a Canada-based institution with branches in the Caribbean. Walters was born in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

It’s not clear how much money traveled through the accounts. Law enforcement officials said it has been a challenge to trace the money that was stolen from city tax coffers dating back to at least 1990.

Last week, an Internal Revenue Service official in Maryland, Robert Steven, and his wife, Patricia, were charged with being accomplices of Walters. The duo set up a bogus company called Bellarmine that became one channel for laundering money, according to court documents.

The court documents filed Thursday indicate authorities seized two luxury sedans registered to Walter Jones, a former Bank of America branch manager who was arrested earlier this month on charges related to the scandal.

smccabe@dcexaminer.com

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