Creator of Beanie Babies to Plead Guilty to Tax Evasion
Accused of stashing $93 million in Swiss bank accounts
Remember Beanie Babies, those plush animal-shaped bean bags that you (may have) thought would be a worthwhile investment in the '90s? Their creator, Ty Warner, is now on the hook for ducking taxes on all the money he made during the Beanie Baby craze.
The Department of Justice announced Wednesday that Warner, 69, will plead guilty to tax evasion. The DOJ's charge alleges that Warner stashed more than $93 million in a secret offshore account at the United Bank of Switzerland between 1996 and 2002, the peak of Beanie mania. In 2002 Warner failed to pay more than $1.2 million in taxes owed on the $3.1 million in income generated through investments in the Swiss account that year. Warner's prosecutor says that the toy mogul will pay more than $53 million total in back taxes and civil penalties, according to NPR. He could also face jail time—tax evasion carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
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