Sala IV Puts
Brakes On U.S.
Woman's
Extradition From
Costa Rica
Ellen Meredith
Stubenhaus won't
be going home
just yet, thanks
to a decision by
the Sala
Constitucional
(or Sala IV)
which stopped
the extradition
of the American
woman, who is
wanted in the
United States,
for tax fraud
conspiracy.
Stubenhaus was
ordered
extradited by a
judge Cecilia
Jiménez Vargas,
of the Tribunal
Penal de Osa,
Puntarenas, lat
December 8,
2009.
However, on
April 9, the
Sala IV said
that before the
woman can be
extradited there
has to be a
resolution on
her filing for
refugee status,
which Stubenhaus
made on October
8, 2009, with
the Dirección de
Migración y
Extranjería
(immigration
service).
This is not the
first case of an
American woman
avoiding being
sent back to the
United States.
Two of the
women, alleging
to be victims of
domestic
violence, made
successful bids
to remain in
Costa Rica and
Stubenhaus is
going anywhere
soon, for now.
Ellen Meredith
Stubenhaus was
arrested by
Interpol on
April 9, 2009
and has been in
the Buen Pastor
(women's prison)
in San Rafael
Arriba de
Desamparados
since.
Stubenhaus is
among 13 persons
charged in an
indictment by
the State of
Florida in
Pensacola with
conspiracy to
impair and
impede the
Internal Revenue
Service and to
commit wire
fraud,
conspiracy to
commit money
laundering, and
wire fraud, all
as part of a
nationwide tax
defer movement
which promoted
the use of
offshore trusts
and foreign bank
accounts as a
way of evading
federal income
taxes.
According to the
indictment, the
vendors
promoting
offshore trusts
were attempting
to illegally
exploit the
general rule
that
non-resident
aliens are not
required to pay
income tax on
U.S. interest
income, U.S.
capital gains,
or income from
the sales of
foreign
properties or
from foreign
sources. The
indictment
alleges vendors
did so by
attempting to
create a
structure which
gave the
appearance that
a non-resident
alien was the
owner of the
assets when, in
fact, a U.S.
citizen was the
owner.
Stubenhaus
entered Costa
Rica in 2008 and
married on
September 5,
2009, to Jorge
Arturo Morales
Rojas, a Costa
Rican national.
The woman
alleges that
"the government
of the United
States intends
to curtail my
freedom to
education,
thought and
assembly".
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