Published: November 04, 2009 07:41 pm      

Eight-count superseding indictment returned against area doctor, Md. lawyer

BLUEFIELD — A federal grand jury returned an eight-count superseding indictment Wednesday against a local physician and a Maryland-based lawyer alleging tax evasion and conspiracy.

A grand jury sitting in Beckley for the Southern District of West Virginia returned the superseding indictment against Dr. Randy Michael Brodnik, 47, of Bluefield, Va., and Anthony Ira Kritt, 54, of Crofton, Md., according to a public information release by United States Attorney Charles T. Miller.

An original seven-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in March alleged one count of conspiracy and six counts of tax evasion. The superseding indictment returned Wednesday by the federal grand jury alleges one count of conspiracy, six counts of tax evasion and one count of “corruptly endeavoring to impede and obstruct the due administration of the Internal Revenue laws” through an alleged foreign “employee-leasing” program designed to conceal income from the IRS and to “thwart the IRS’s ability to obtain evidence and procure the testimony of witnesses in American courts” by using international tax haven jurisdictions, the indictment alleges.

Both men are due back in U.S. District Court in Beckley on Nov. 17 at 1:30 p.m. for arraignment on the superseding indictment charges. Trial for the two men had originally been scheduled for Jan. 26. A new trial date for the two men on the superseding indictment charges won’t be set until Nov. 17, according to court officials.

The superseding indictment alleges that Brodnik and Kritt conspired to avoid paying taxes due the IRS by using “a wide variety of sophisticated financial devices” including “sham contracts, international nominee bank accounts, shell corporations and other conduit entities” from about 1998 to November 2008.

The superseding indictment further alleges the defendants used more than a half dozen business entities, including some of which were “shell and fictitious entities” in furthering the tax conspiracy.

— Contact Charles Owns at cowens@bdtonline.com