Lawyer Charged in Billionaire’s Tax Case Dies on Eve of Trial
- Carlos Kepke faced trial over helping Robert Smith cheat IRS
- Kepke’s passing relieves Smith of having to testify for US
Robert F. Smith
Photographer: Jason Alden/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
A Houston lawyer charged with helping private equity billionaire Robert F. Smith evade taxes for more than a decade died just before he was about to go on trial.
Carlos Kepke died over the weekend in Texas, said one of his attorneys, Richard Strassberg. Kepke was 83. He was set to go on trial Monday in San Francisco federal court on charges of conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and aiding and abetting the filing of false tax returns by Smith, founder of Vista Equity Partners.