Centre life trustee charged in $2 billion tax fraud scheme

Complete indictment featured here

 

A Centre College Life Trustee has been charged in a $2 billion tax fraud scheme that federal prosecutors say is the largest such case ever against an American, according to the Associated Press.

Robert T. Brockman, 79, who in 2013 gave Centre College a $250 million gift for a scholarship program which made national headlines for being the largest gift ever bestowed to a college or university, then six weeks later rescinded it, was indicted in United States District Court in San Francisco on Oct. 1.

Brockman was charged with several counts of conspiracy, tax evasion, FBAR violations, wire fraud affecting a financial institution, concealment of money laundering, tax evasion money laundering, international concealment money laundering, evidence tampering, and destruction of evidence.

According to the 42-page indictment, Brockman was chief executive officer for several holding companies including Universal Computer Systems Holding Inc. (UCSH), Reynolds& Reynolds Company, Spanish Steps Holdings LLC, and the A. Eugene Brockman Charitable Trust (AEBCT), just to name a few.

The indictment states, “Brockman, with assistance from other individuals known and unknown to the grand jury, created a complex network of offshore companies and trusts, and appointed nominees to manage these entities for him. … when in reality, Brockman completely controlled these entities and made all substantive decisions in their regard.”

The indictment also states that Brockman used an encrypted email account and used code names for those who were also using the system to conduct his business.

Centre College is specifically named in the indictment when it states that on or about July 24, 2013, Brockman used the encrypted email system when he instructed someone to create a press release “for a contemplated $250 million gift from Brockman to Centre College in the name of AEBCT.”

On Aug. 22, 2013, Brockman sent “detailed instructions regarding a gift from Brockman to Centre College in the name of AEBCT “including talking points, and directed (the individual) to threaten to ‘pull the plug on the project’ if Brockman’s demands were not met.”

The detailed indictment goes on to list Brockman’s other transactions involving his companies, properties and proxies.

The indictment states upon conviction of any of the offenses alleged in the indictment, the government may force forfeiture of properties gained by fraudulent acts or any other properties to settle the debt.

According to Advocate-Messenger files, when Centre announced the $250 million gift on July 30, 2013, it said that the gift would be in the form of stock in Universal Computer Systems Holdings Inc., of which Reynolds and Reynolds was a subsidiary, from the A. Eugene Brockman Charitable Trust.

It was stated to be the largest outright gift ever to a liberal arts college and made national news.

However, six weeks later, the college said the deal fell through because of a “significant capital market event.”

In a BuzzFeed story, published in part in The Advocate-Messenger on Oct. 6, 2013, “…this deal collapsed mainly, people involved agree, over the conditions Brockman wanted to set on the scholarship. Those conditions were, in the view of the college administration, “crazy” and “extreme” according to a well-connected alumnus and imposed by Brockman through his proxy, Australian lawyer Evatt Tamine, who administers the A. Eugene Brockman Charitable Trust from Bermuda.”

Brockman entered Centre as a first year student in 1959. Two years later he transferred to the University of Florida, but told people around him that Centre had “set him on the path of success,” according to a previous story.

In 2012, Robert Brockman gave the college $15 million to build Brockman Commons. Pearl Hall was also funded by the AEBCT and was named after Robert Brockman’s mother and grandmother.

Robert Brockman was Board Chair of the Centre College Board of Trustees from 2008-2013, and was named Life Trustee in 2015.

See the complete indictment by clicking here

SportsPlus

News

Frank X. Walker Inducted into Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame

News

Stephenson named as finance director for Boyle County Schools

News

Greene appointed as County Treasurer

News

Boyle County Early Learning Center to hosts Start Smart Enrollment Fair

News

Danville BOE recognized

News

Danville commission addresses petition to fire officer involved in controversial arrest

News

Boyle County Habitat for Humanity looking for property for 2025 build

News

Danville Alumni Stories: Jason Weathers

News

Danville celebrates MLK Day with march and ceremony

News

Adkins welcomed to Boyle County BOE

News

Annual and regular meetings of the Housing Authority of Danville held

News

Students selected for Sister City exchange

News

Works of Susan Smith to be displayed at Art Center of the Bluegrass

News

New Vista ribbon cutting ceremony postponed to March

News

Danville, Centre College to Host MLK Day Celebration

News

DCA’s Mbugua nominated for McDonald’s game

News

Resilient Boyle hopes to inspire local climate-change policy in 2025

News

Boyle County Ethics Commission to Hold Quarterly Meeting on Jan. 15

News

January full of special events at the Art Center of the Bluegrass

News

Spring term rehearsals of the Danville Sings community choirs begin

News

Boyle County Warming Center opens as crews work to restore power after winter storm

News

Bruce Richardson inducted as the 2024 Arts Citizen of the Year

News

Winter storm hits Danville, Boyle County

News

Kentucky Farm Surprised by Rare Quintuplet Goat Birth