evasion

Porn bigwig extradited to Germany for tax evasion

The owner of the world's largest network of porn Web sites was arrested in Belgium and extradited to Germany for alleged tax evasion, according to the Associated Press.

Fabian Thylmann -- the man behind the Manwin porn empire -- is German but lives in Belgium. Local authorities arrested him last week on a German warrant for suspicion of tax evasion. According to the Associated Press, Thylmann did not dispute the extradition.

Manwin specializes in making its Web sites like YouPorn and PornHub optimized for the Internet, which garners the sites an obscene amount of traffic. Daily, Manwin says its … Read more

Facebook comes under fire for alleged tax evasion in U.K.

The U.K. is accusing Facebook of dodging taxes in 2011. According to the Guardian, tax experts said that the tech company reported lower sales figures than estimated and explicitly set up its headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, to reap the benefits of lowered tax incentives for corporations.

"The U.K. is being taken for a ride," Tax Research U.K. director Richard Murphy told the Guardian. "Facebook is taking standard practice for these IT companies to a new high, or low, depending on how you look at it."

Facebook paid $313,345 to the U.K. … Read more

Apple accused of tax-dodging in the U.K.

Apple is avoiding paying the full amount of U.K. taxes it owes for the last financial year, alleges a British news report in the Daily Mail today.

The report says that Apple earned 6 billion pounds (roughly $9.5 billion) but paid only 10 million pounds (around $16 million) in taxes -- which is far below the standard in the U.K.

The news source gathered documents from Apple's retail divisions in 2010 that show the company also paid less that year than is typical for a business selling products in the U.K. These documents show that … Read more

Ex-Samsung chairman convicted of tax evasion

A South Korean court on Wednesday found former Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee guilty of tax evasion and sentenced the former executive to a three-year jail sentence, according to an Associated Press report.

But Lee will not be going to jail at this point, since his prison sentence was suspended for five years. Prosecutors had been seeking a seven-year prison sentence.

Lee, however, will have to pay a fine of 110 billion won, or $109 million, as restitution for the tax evasion conviction. Prosecutors had been seeking substantially more--a fine of 350 billion won, or $347 million. Lee is the … Read more

Samsung fans riot in support of former chairman

Now this is a passionate user base.

Protesters turned out to riot and burn photos at a press conference in Seoul Wednesday held by former Samsung top lawyer, Kim Yong-Chul, and the Associated Press got a great photo of the civil disobediance in action.

We're not allowed to run AP photos (we don't pay for the service, but if anyone has their own photos, please send them my way at Erica dot Ogg at cnet.com), but Engadget has the image, so be sure to check it out.

The company's former lawyer held the press conference to … Read more

Samsung chief indicted on tax evasion charges

Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-Hee was indicted on charges of evading taxes on billions of dollars he hid in stock accounts under the names of his aides, The New York Times is reporting.

He also faces criminal charges of breach of trust, stemming from his involvement in arranging for company subsidiaries "to sell stock to his son" at "unfairly low prices" to help his son "take over management control," The Times says. Lee was cleared, however, of more serious allegations he starting a slush fund worth $215 million used to bribe prosecutors, judges, and other public officials.… Read more