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MILLER: Castroneves FAQs
SPEED’s Robin Miller talks to two veteran attorneys to shed light on the tax-evasion indictment facing IndyCar star Helio Castroneves.
Robin Miller  |  Posted October 06, 2008   Indianapolis, Ind.
Even in a best-case scenario, the next few months figure to be a rough ride for Castroneves following his tax-evasion indictment. (LAT Photo)

At this point, there are infinitely more questions than answers surrounding the shocking story of Helio Castroneves being indicted for tax evasion by a grand jury last week in Miami.

The fans who have cheered and supported the two-time Indy 500 winner are stunned their beloved Brazilian could be jailbait. Some feel he got duped by his handlers, others think he's being picked on and most are worried about his future.

But, regardless of what eventually transpires in the court room, the next several months doesn't figure to be a fun ride for Castroneves.

So, using veteran Indianapolis attorney Jim Voyles, who defended Bill Simpson against NASCAR among his many auto racing-related clients during the past 35 years, a retired friend from the justice department who shall remain anonymous per their request (we'll call him Tubbs) and a little common sense, we'll try to answer the obvious questions and ask a few of our own.

What really happened last week?

VOYLES: "Any indictment by the United States Attorney's Office is very serious and these are very serious allegations. The indictment was a way to get Helio in front of a court. But it's mainly an allegation and it carries with it the full presumption of innocence."

This isn't a grandstanding play by a prosecutor to get some notoriety?

TUBBS: "Not hardly. Back in the '80s we had the Cocaine Cowboys and the money-laundering epidemic. We spent a lot of time putting together cases on people from another countries who were sending money to off-shore banks and illegally shielding income from the IRS. It took millions of dollars to just start an investigation, and that was just the first part. Once they had solid evidence to bring an indictment they had to present the case in Washington to the Attorney General's office for review. Only when the Attorney General thought that the case merited a legitimate chance of being a successful prosecution so that they could feel justified in spending the millions of dollars it takes to go to trial on some of these cases, did they indict. You've got the Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Tax Division (Nathan J. Hochman), the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (Doug Shulman), and the Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (Michael E. Yasofsky). This isn't some whim, these are big hitters."

Did Castroneves know about this prior to last Thursday?

VOYLES: "Absolutely. You try to resolve it way before you get indicted if you can. Obviously, for whatever reason, it couldn't be resolved."

Why the theatrics of cuffs and leg chains?

TUBBS: "It's standard operating procedure. When you surrender at a U.S. Marshall's office, the policy is to be cuffed. They won't treat Helio differently than anybody else."

But Castroneves has never been in any kind of trouble before, doesn't this count for something? Won't that fact be taken into consideration?

VOYLES: "That doesn't mean anything. The U.S. Federal District courts have sentencing guidelines and, in 1987, it developed a U.S. Federal Sentencing Commission. They look at how much money is involved, the defendant's role and there is a mandatory penalty for whatever those things add up to."


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