Posted on: Thursday, July 4, 2002

Legislator pleads not guilty in tax fraud case

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

State Rep. Nathan Suzuki pleaded not guilty in federal court yesterday to three counts of filing false income tax returns and two counts of failing to disclose an interest in a foreign bank account on his tax returns.

Suzuki was indicted June 27.

Federal Magistrate Judge Kevin Chang set a tentative trial date of Sept. 4 and ordered Suzuki to post a $100,000 unsecured bond.

Chang denied a request by Edward Groves, a special attorney with the U.S. Justice Department's Tax Division, to raise Suzuki's bail to at least $250,000. Groves told Chang that Suzuki had access to the same foreign bank accounts as Michael Boulware, a Hawai'i businessman convicted last fall of tax evasion and bank fraud conspiracy charges. Groves said $4 million passed through those accounts.

Suzuki, 54, D-31st (Salt Lake, Moanalua), who prepared Boulware's tax returns for the years in question, was excused from having to testify at Boulware's trial on the grounds that forcing him to do so would violate his constitutional protection against self-incrimination.

The charges against Suzuki are related to the work he did for Boulware, head of a coffee distribution and vending machine empire in Hawai'i. Boulware was sentenced in May to four years and three months in prison.

Chang left Suzuki's bail at $100,000 after Suzuki's lawyer, Robert Klein, said Boulware's bail was $100,000 and he was allowed to remain free while appealing his conviction.

Chang ordered Suzuki not to apply for a new passport and to surrender any passports he may have. In response to another point raised by Groves, Klein said Suzuki did not have a passport issued by the Kingdom of Tonga.

Three of the counts against Suzuki — charges that he filed false personal income tax statements from 1995 to 1997 by not disclosing an interest in bank accounts in Hong Kong and Tonga — each carry a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The two other counts — charging that he failed to file a required form as part of his federal tax returns that would have listed an interest in those foreign accounts — each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

As he entered the Federal Courthouse yesterday, Suzuki was asked if he intends to run for re-election this fall. He looked straight ahead and did not respond.

After the court hearing yesterday, Klein said Suzuki "looks forward to his day in court where we'll vigorously oppose the charges."