By Austin Alonzo Reporter- Kansas City Business Journal

PHOTO: Kansas City businesswoman Cheryl Womack was indicted on Dec. 12 for allegedly using foreign trusts and secret Cayman Island bank accounts to avoid paying millions in income taxes.

Cheryl Womack will not be ringing in the new year in the Cayman Islands, a federal judge ordered on Monday.

The local businesswoman was indicted earlier this month on charges that she used foreign trusts and secret Cayman Island bank accounts to avoid paying millions in income taxes. Womack appeared in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City on Monday to ask for the return of her passport. In a filing, she said she needed to travel to the Cayman Islands from Dec. 27 through Jan. 26 and to India from Feb. 4 to Feb 11.

U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Robert Larsen denied that motion on the grounds that Womack may never return from the Caribbean paradise and longtime tax haven where, according to court documents, she has a home and about $5 million in assets.

“The temptation to stay in the Cayman Islands would be too great and the government’s ability to proceed with this prosecution would be seriously jeopardized,” Larsen said in his ruling.

A motion filed by Womack’s attorney, Michael Levine of Scarsdale, N.Y.-based firm Levine & Associates PC, said that Womack needs to spend a month in the Cayman Islands to meet with political and business leaders for a waste-to-energy project she is spearheading. She also has plans to attend a New Year’s Eve gathering with political figures who are connected to that project and needs to stay in the Cayman Islands for a number of days as a condition of her permanent residency in the British overseas territory.

Womack’s wants to go to India in February, filings stated, to attend the International Women’s Conference as a representative of the U.S. business community.

Levine argued that Womack would put up her Mission Hills home, valued at $5.5 million, and a life insurance policy valued at more than $794,000, to secure her return. He also said Womack has made a number of trips, knowing that she was under investigation, and returned home each time.

But prosecutors noted that the United States’ extradition treaty with the Cayman Islands contains language that could make it difficult, or even prevent, an attempt to have Womack returned against her will.

Larsen found that the consequences of staying in the Caribbean and losing a home and insurance policy are not worse than the prospect of paying $7 million to $10 million in restitution and spending up to 10 years in prison in the United States. He said Womack could attend business and political meetings via teleconference.

For more on this story go to:

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2013/12/24/judge-freezes-womacks-plans-to-travel.html

For related iNews Cayman story published December 15 2013 “Mission Hills woman indicted for Cayman Island tax scheme, lying to Federal authorities” go to: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/mission-hills-woman-indicted-for-cayman-island-tax-scheme-lying-to-federal-authorities/