http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/news.html?news_id=57869
Lewis Freeman is Joe Sanchez' treasure
Here is the proof
http://www.ci.miami.fl.us/City_Clerk/Pages/Elections/CampaignReports09/Joe%20Sanchez%20Appointment%20of%20Campaign%20Treas%20and%20Statement%20of%20Candidate%202008.pdf
Sanchez signs his name as the deputy treasurer. Further proof the address for all of Sanchez' Campaign reports has been 3225 aviation ave suite 501
Which is the same address of Lewis Freeman place
Here is the text of the article.
The FBI executed search warrants at the offices of high-profile accountant and attorney Lewis Freeman, who frequently is picked by judges as a court-appointed receiver or trustee for troubled companies in South Florida, sources said.
Freeman and the FBI weren’t talking Thursday when asked about the warrants, which sources said were executed late last week.
Legal community sources said the Miami and Plantation offices of Lewis B. Freeman & Partners were searched by the FBI.
The search warrants are the latest incarnation of Freeman’s troubles with the U.S. government.
Freeman sued the Internal Revenue Service in August over $4.5 million civil assessment against him for allegedly promoting a parking deduction plan that the agency called an abusive tax shelter, according to court documents.
The FBI’s presence, however, indicates a criminal investigation may be under way, observers said.
“When the IRS assesses someone a penalty, it’s not normal to raid an office,” said Fort Lauderdale tax litigator Martin Press, a partner with Gunster.
The IRS typically uses the Treasury Department to execute its search warrants. The FBI is part of the Justice Department.
The dapper Freeman is considered an expert on receiverships and speaks nationally on the topic.
Information about the warrants remains sealed because criminal charges have not been filed against Freeman, a source said.
Freeman, in his lawsuit, is looking for the return of a $3,000 deposit to appeal the assessment. He has frequently tangled with the IRS on behalf of clients.
Freeman has retained criminal defense attorney Robert Josefsberg of Podhurst Orseck in Miami. Josefsberg did not return a call for comment by deadline.
Freeman’s attorney in the tax matter, Charles Ruffner of Miami, said the IRS alleges the parking plan was a tax dodge because money was deducted from an employee’s base salary, leaving less to tax. The IRS calculates that nearly 5,000 taxpayers used the product.
In his lawsuit, Freeman said he had received a legal opinion from Greenberg Traurig stating that the parking program did not violate any tax laws.
Ruffner said he thought the matter had been resolved.
“We were kind of surprised when it came up again. I thought the IRS had dropped it. It’s kind of bizarre,” he said.
Ruffner said Freeman had nothing to do with selling the plan to employers but introduced sellers and buyers to each other.
“He was the guy who introduced everybody,” Ruffner said.
The firm’s most high-profile case at the moment is the receivership for Hess Kennedy, a Coral Springs law firm that offered debt settlement services but allegedly did little more than pocket the money. Receiver Daniel Stermer, who works in Freeman’s Plantation office, has counted almost $55 million in valid claims.
Freeman had served as receiver for shuttered Melbourne-based foreign exchange money manager Capital Blu Management, Boca Raton-based marketing firm Professional Resource Services International and Unique Gems International, a fraud that charged 15,000 consumers as much as $3,000 each to assemble worthless bead jewelry.
John Pacenti can be reached at (305) 347-6638.
