Montville Woman, Law Partner Charged with Ducking IRS Reports

A pair of attorneys with a Fairfield law firm allegedly deposited $354,000 in a way to avoid currency reporting requirements by keeping the deposits under $10,000, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Goldie Sommer, 61, of Montville and Edward Engelhart, 61, of Rockaway allegedly made numerous deposits between Aug. 13 and Sept. 22, 2010, in large, even dollar amounts—but none greater than the $10,000 threshold that triggers currency transaction reports to the IRS so the government is aware when large amounts of U.S. currency are moved, authorities said.

Sommer and Engelhart, of the law firm Sommer & Engelhart, appeared Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph A. Dickson in Newark federal court on the structuring charges.

Bail was set at $100,000 each.

According to the criminal complaint, Sommer and Engelhart admitted to an agent they agreed to structure the money to avoid the filing of forms with the IRS. They reportedly said they received the money from a client of their firm to buy property. They inferred the client wanted the funds deposited into a bank without IRS forms being filed, according to the complaint.

The Attorney's Office said in a statement,

Many individuals involved in illegal activities, such as narcotics trafficking, tax evasion, and money laundering, are aware of these reporting requirements and take active steps to cause financial institutions to fail to file (currency transaction reports) in order to avoid detection of the movement of large amounts of U.S. currency. These steps are referred to as 'structuring' and involve making multiple cash deposits or withdrawals in amounts of $10,000 or less on the same day or consecutive days in order to avoid the filing of CTRs. Structuring transactions to avoid the filing of a CTR is prohibited by law.

Sommer's defense attorney, Jack Arnseneault, and Engelhart's attorney, Howard Brownstein, could not immediately be reached for comment.