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High-profile convictions top U.S. att... Add to Create Alert |

Orlando Sentinel (Florida)

October 3, 2008 Friday

FINAL

High-profile convictions top U.S. attorney's record year

BYLINE: Amy L. Edwards, Sentinel Staff Writer

SECTION: LOCAL NEWS; FLORIDA; Pg. B3

LENGTH: 295 words

The U.S. Attorney for the district that includes the Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville metropolitan areas
said his office has had a banner year.

Authorities had a number of high-profile cases -- including former music mogul Lou Pearlman -- but
they've also had more indictments in a fiscal year than ever before.

The Middle District of Florida, stretching from North Florida to Naples, had about 1,375 indictments --
nearly 200 more than its annual average.

Among the cases handled this year:

* Lou Pearlman. The former music mogul who founded the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync pleaded guilty
to conspiracy, fraud and money laundering charges earlier this year. He was sentenced to 25 years in
prison.

*Wesley Snipes. The Orlando-born actor was convicted of three misdemeanor tax offenses and
sentenced to three years in prison. He is appealing. Snipes' Florida-based tax guru was also convicted
and sentenced to prison for his role in an alleged tax conspiracy.

*Frank L. Amodeo. The Orlando businessman and former head of Mirabilis Ventures Inc. pleaded guilty
to cheating the government out of $172 million in taxes. Amodeo's is one of the biggest employment-
tax-fraud cases in the history of the Internal Revenue Service.

"The people in this office really have done a tremendous job this year," U.S. Attorney for the Middle
District of Florida Robert E. O'Neill told the Orlando Sentinel.

O'Neill attributes the increase to hard work, an increased budget that allowed the district to hire new
employees and an influx of good-quality, young prosecutors.

For the fiscal year that ended Tuesday, the district had about $16.5 million in forfeited assets -- about
$2 million more than last year
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