Forbes 400 member Igor M. Olenicoff pleaded guilty today to a federal tax felony and has paid $52 million in back federal taxes, interest and civil fraud penalties to settle charges that he lied for years about his ownership of accounts in the Bahamas, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Britain. He has also agreed to move all his offshore money back to the U.S.
During a half-hour hearing in a windowless federal courtroom in Santa Ana, Calif., the 65-year-old, Russian-born Olenicoff looked composed and dapper in a gray, pinstriped suit. The single felony he pleaded to–filing a false 2002 tax return–is punishable by up to three years in prison. But Olenicoff’s deal with the government makes it highly unlikely he will get more than six months, and he could get off with home detention or probation.
