It turns out Vista billionaire Robert Smith may have played more of a role in a $2 billion tax evasion scheme by his former business partner than previously believed, according to The Wall Street Journal. The IRS filed documents in civil court that allege Smith helped set up the transaction “Project Hotrod” that allowed his former partner Robert Brockman to transfer $635 million into offshore holdings—money that should have been taxed, it said. Smith’s lawyer told the paper that the government “never has alleged that Robert Smith engaged in any wrongdoing in connection with the transaction, nor that Mr. Smith knew that Mr. Brockman structured the Hotrod transaction for the purpose of illegally avoiding taxes.” The filing came more than a year after Smith had agreed to testify against Brockman as part of a non-prosecution agreement. Brockman was charged for the scheme in October 2020, with prosecutors calling his the largest tax evasion plot in U.S. history. Brockman has denied the charges and has cited dementia as a reason not to stand trial.
