Tosa
jeweler to the jocks busted in financial reporting case
Sept.
3, 2006 -- A Wauwatosa jeweler to the jocks has
been charged in federal court with helping drug dealers
avoid federal financial reporting requirements when they
bought more than $10,000 worth of jewelry.
Harry
C. Glinberg, 36, owner of Harry
C. Glinberg Jewelers Inc., 2675 N. Mayfair Rd.
allegedly advised an Internal Revenue Service criminal investigator
who was posing as a drug dealer, how to avoid the requirement
that monetary transactions of more than $10,000 be reported
to the federal government.
He
appeared last week before U.S. Magistrate Judge Aaron Goodstein
and was released on $20,000 bond.
Glinberg,
who also sells jewelry to professional athletes, earned
the scrutiny of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division
after several informants involved in the drug trade said
they had bought expensive jewelry from him.
One
infromant turned over to investigators a Jacob & Co.
watch worth $10,000. "The watch had an attached bezel
containing 42 diamonds," according to an affidavit
filed in the case by Special Agent Park J. Jones.
An
undercover agent first visited Glinberg's store in February,
2005 to buy a watch, according to the affidavit.
"Check
credit card, doesn't, like I don't care, it doesn't make
a difference," Glinberg said, according to the affidavit.
"I mean athletes write the check for a hundred thousand,
you know."
The
agent said he was a drug dealer and did not want to pay
by check or credit card.
"Hey
come on he you know how the drug game is baby talk to me,"
the agent told Glinberg, according to a transcript of the
conversation.
Glinberg
suggested the agent find someone else to buy it. "They
could buy it and sell i tto you for a dollar, they could
give it to you," he said.
Glinberg
explained that the agent also could avoid the reporting
requirement by spending less than $10,000.
"So
the easiest think is, like I say, up to, you know, 95 you
can do it, there's no, I'm gonna have to, doesn't have to,
I don't even have to make a name out to it. But anything
over that, so you can do it half and half or something like
that. Maybe your girlfriend buys it from me," he said,
according to the affidavit.
The
agent eventually bought a watch with $9,000 in cash and
a $9,500 cashier's check. In May 2005 the agent bought a
watch for $8,500. The price was reduced from $11,000 to
avoid the reporting requirement.
The
IRS also reviewed Glinberg's tax returns for 2002 through
2005. Glinberg's income total income was $34,440 in 2002;
$46,891 in 2003; and $46,129 in 2004.
In
2005, largely because he sold a vacant lot, his income rose
to $159,317, according to the affidavit. His store's reported
profits from 2001 to 2004 ranged from $10,670 to $19,811.
In
November 2005, the affidavit said, "Glinberg purchased
a $770,000 residence in Mequon, Wisconsin with a $616,000
mortgage," the affidavit said. "The monthly payments
on the mortgage are approximately $3,700 per month (or $44,000
annually)."
Glinberg
also owns a 2004 Hummer H2 carrying a monthly payment of
$1,112; a 2005 Honda Odyssey with a monthly payment of $762;
a 2002 Coleman camper and a 1997 Cadillac Deville. The last
two vehicles are fully paid for, the affidavit said.
Overall,
the income and expenses Glinberg claimed would leave a net
income a -$578 per month, the affidavit said.
Printer-friendly
version
