Eisner Forms Tax Recovery Assistance Task Force To Assist Madoff Investors
December 24, 2008
New York, NY – Eisner LLP, one of the nation’s leading accounting and business advisory services firms, has formed the Tax Recovery Assistance (TRA) Task Force to assist investors who have suffered losses as a result of the recently disclosed Bernard L. Madoff fraudulent investment scheme.
The TRA team will focus on helping to position taxpayers to optimize the recovery of previously made tax payments and to obtain current tax deductions, as well as assist in reconstructing supporting historical tax and investment records. Robert Harrison and Christopher Loiacono, co-chairs of Eisner’s tax advisory services group; Walter Pagano, partner-in-charge of Eisner’s litigation consulting and forensic accounting group; and Timothy Speiss, partner-in-charge of Eisner’s personal wealth advisors will lead the TRA team.
“First of all, we recognize that affected taxpayers are facing a significant amount of uncertainty right now,” says Harrison. “The alleged Madoff fraud is unique in its impact; it’s of a magnitude that has not been seen before. Therefore, it’s critically important that we gather all the information we can and assess appropriate tax considerations for recovery, so that we can provide the most insightful advice for our clients as we move forward.”
“Our clients, as well as the legal community, are looking to us for our extensive expertise working with and understanding complex financial structures and the taxation of financial instruments. We have significant experience in working with victims of investment fraud, helping them to uncover appropriate facts in order to reconstruct books and records where there may not be substantiating documents,” says Loiacono. “Our goal is to help position individuals and other investees to recover as much as possible of what has been lost while we help minimize claw backs.”
“Our forensic team includes former IRS agents, who are skilled in navigating the processes and procedures inherent in this type of matter,” says Pagano. “This expertise and experience enables us to gather the facts and figures that can best support our clients’ positions.”
“Each taxpayer’s case is unique,” says Speiss, “An avenue that represents the best resolution for one client may not be advisable for another. Our goal is to formulate and implement optimal tax planning positions for each of our clients that have been defrauded.”