Former U.S. attorney in N.C. indicted in tax fraud case
EMERY P. DALESIO
Associated Press
Posted on Tue, Apr. 18, 2006l
RALEIGH, N.C. - A former U.S. attorney who later headed the North Carolina Republican Party and was a Superior Court judge has been indicted in a tax fraud conspiracy, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
Sam Currin, now a private criminal attorney, was one of four people charged after a sting by investigators with the Internal Revenue Service.
The four were involved with abusing financial trusts created under Caribbean companies to avoid U.S. taxes, said U.S. Attorney Gretchen Shappert in Charlotte.
Federal prosecutors said Tuesday that a federal grand jury in Charlotte indicted Currin earlier this month on charges of tax fraud conspiracy. He's also charged with obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and perjury charges in a related grand jury investigation of securities fraud.
Currin was formerly an aide to Sen. Jesse Helms; the United States attorney for eastern North Carolina from 1981 to 1987; and a Superior Court judge until 1990. Since then, he's represented criminal defendants in the state's federal courts.
Charged along with Currin were Ricky Graves, a tax attorney in Wilmington, and a North Carolina couple who headed a series of offshore financial companies, federal officials said Tuesday.
Currin's attorney did not immediately return calls seeking comment. Graves did not return a call to his office. Prosecutors said they have asked a judge to order that Howell Way Woltz, the president of Sterling Trust in the Bahamas, and his wife Vernice, be held without bail. There was no telephone number listed for the Woltzes at the address in Advance listed in the federal indictment.
"Sometimes persons involved in elaborate criminal financial schemes believe that they can avoid federal law enforcement by moving their operations offshore," Shappert said. "This is not true."
Raleigh attorney Robert Wellons pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice and has agreed to help the government, prosecutors said.
The former president of Gastonia investment firm Tech Traders Incorporated, Coyt Murray, has been charged with conspiracy to commit commodities fraud in connection with the case, officials said.
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