Trombetta

Background Leading to Case No. SCV-252696 Harry O’Hagin was married to Carolina O’Hagin and they had a company involved in manufacturing roofing products called O’Hagin’s, Inc. (OHI).2 Around 2002, Harry, Carolina, and their attorney, William Daniels, met with Patterson, an attorney, and Bryan Gaggs, a certified public accountant. Patterson and Gaggs proposed that Harry, Carolina, and OHI use an “offshore tax structure” that would reduce their domestic tax obligations by diverting income to offshore bank accounts maintained by a foreign entity called Charter Star Limited, which was a Hong Kong corporation owned by Patterson and Gaggs. Gaggs told Carolina that she would have to expatriate to properly participate. Carolina and OHI declined, but Harry agreed and expatriated to Thailand. Harry filed for divorce from Carolina around 2003. Harry and Carolina eventually entered a “marital settlement agreement” whereby OHI would pay Harry $10 million, while Harry agreed to convey all community-held intellectual property to Carolina as separate property. OHI paid $500,000 to Harry, but not the remainder, so Harry elected to enforce the settlement agreement and obtained a judgment against…