By DREW WINCHESTER
STAFF WRITER
When an Englewood doctor failed to show for his court date in Fort Myers last week, federal officials issued a warrant for his arrest, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa.
William Daniels, public affairs specialist for the Middle District of Florida, said Dr. David Leon Frederick, along with his wife, Dr. Patricia Lynn Hough, was summoned to appear in front of Federal Judge Douglas M. Frazier in relation to the multiple conspiracy and fraud charges filed against the couple last month, but Frederick was a no-show.
Hough appeared as scheduled, according to Daniels, and Frazier set bail conditions and a release bond of $250,000 for Hough. Conditions of the pretrial release included Hough surrendering her passport and only being allowed to travel in Florida, while any travel within the contiguous 48 states outside of Florida must be approved by a motion made in the court. Hough was never taken into custody, according to Daniels.
Federal prosecutors also filed a motion to determine conflict of interest on June 7 in regards to attorney Nathan Hochman, who has represented both Frederick and Hough since 2011. The motion states that Frederick terminated Hochman’s representation on May 29, and anticipates that Frederick and Hough may have ‘adverse defenses’ and that Hochman, now solely representing Hough, would ‘need to take a position that is materially adverse to his former client, Frederick,’ the motion states.
Hochman, who has offices in Washington, D.C., and Santa Monica, Calif., could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Indictment: Couple hid millions
According to a federal indictment filed last month, Frederick and Hough, of the 7500 block of Manasota Key Road, were each charged with one count of conspiring to defraud the IRS and four counts of filing false tax returns in Florida’s Middle District.
According to the indictment, the couple is alleged to have sold more than $33 million of undeclared real estate, conspiring with Beda Singenberger, a Swiss-born financial adviser and banker who was indicted in 2010 by federal authorities for conspiring to hide more than $184 million in offshore accounts. Singenberger is currently under indictment in the Southern District of New York.
The indictment states the couple used undeclared bank accounts in Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Liechtenstein, accounts established and operated by Singenberger, to stash money funneled through fake companies they established and incorporated all over the world.
The indictment states those companies, located in places likes Hong Kong, the British Virgin Islands and the United States, were used to conceal assets, income and real estate, including the sale of real estate associated with two medical schools established by the couple in the Antilles and the West Indies in the 1980s and 1990s. The couple is also alleged to have used undeclared income from their medical schools, the indictment states.
According to the indictment, the conspiracy charge is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Each count of filing a false tax return is also punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to the indictment. The couple is alleged to have filed false tax returns from 2005 to 2008.
Hough, a medical doctor and trained psychiatrist, has worked part time for Sarasota County, earning $60 an hour, providing primary care to patients with behavioral health concerns at the North Port branch of the county Health Department, according to spokeswoman Dianne Shipley. Shipley could not be reached Tuesday to confirm whether Hough has returned to work.
Frederick has no physician’s license information on file with the state of Florida.
Email: dwinchester@sun-herald.com
Originally published in the June 19 editions of the North Port and Englewood Sun.
Drew Winchester 