A New Jersey millionaire and philanthropist who gained notoriety when questions were raised about the value of a collection of 17th- and 18th-century stringed instruments that he sold to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison on unrelated tax fraud charges.
The philanthropist, Herbert Axelrod, sobbed and expressed his remorse for helping a former executive of his pet supply and pet-related publishing company set up a Swiss bank account to hide taxable income from the Internal Revenue Service.
"It was always my goal to be remembered as an outstanding philanthropist," said Axelrod, 77, standing before Judge Garrett Brown in US District Court. "Instead I will be remembered as someone who disrespected the law and this court."
Last month the former executive, Gary Hersch, pleaded guilty to defrauding the government of taxes on some US$775,000 he secreted in a Swiss bank. The white-bearded Axelrod, who has been held in a Monmouth County jail and who wore an oversized, khaki-colored prison jumpsuit to court, admitted Monday that it was he who introduced Hersch to his Zurich banker in 1983, commencing the fraud.
Axelrod was arrested in June in Germany, where he had fled after hearing of the federal investigation into the tax case. He lived in Deal, New Jersey, for many years, and made his fortune with pet products and publications, founding TFH Publications.
Once called the Medici of the Meadowlands for his patronage of the arts, he was praised just a year earlier for his sale of 30 Stradivarius, Amati and Guaneri violins, violas and cellos to the orchestra. He and some experts had valued the collection at US$50 million, but the symphony was able to buy the collection for US$18 million.
It was seen at the time as a generous gift. However, other appraisals and an investigation by the trustees of the orchestra valued the instruments at between US$15 million and US$26 million at most.
A ship that appears to be taking on the identity of a scrapped gas carrier exited the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, showing how strategies to get through the waterway are evolving as the Middle East war progresses. The vessel identifying as liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Jamal left the Strait on Friday morning, ship-tracking data show. However, the same tanker was also recorded as having beached at an Indian demolition yard in October last year, where it is being broken up, according to market participants and port agent’s reports. The ship claiming to be Jamal is likely a zombie vessel that
Japan is to downgrade its description of ties with China from “one of its most important” in an annual diplomatic report, according to a draft reviewed by Reuters, as relations with Beijing worsen. This year’s Diplomatic Bluebook, which Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government is expected to approve next month, would instead describe China as an important neighbor and the relationship as “strategic” and “mutually beneficial.” The draft cites a series of confrontations with Beijing over the past year, including export controls on rare earths, radar lock-ons targeting Japanese military aircraft and increased pressure around Taiwan. The shift in tone underscores a deterioration
LAW CONSTRAINTS: The US has been pressing allies to send warships to open the Strait, but Tokyo’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution Japan could consider deploying its military for minesweeping in the Strait of Hormuz if a ceasefire is reached in the war on Iran, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi said yesterday. “If there were to be a complete ceasefire, hypothetically speaking, then things like minesweeping could come up,” Motegi said. “This is purely hypothetical, but if a ceasefire were established and naval mines were creating an obstacle, then I think that would be something to consider.” Japan’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution, but 2015 security legislation allows Tokyo to use its Self-Defense Forces overseas if an attack,
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) yesterday faced a regional election battle in Rhineland-Palatinate, now held by the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). Merz’s CDU has enjoyed a narrow poll lead over the SPD — their coalition partners at the national level — who have ruled the mid-sized state for 35 years. Polling third is the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which spells a greater threat to the two centrist parties in several state elections in September in the country’s ex-communist east. The picturesque state of Rhineland-Palatinate, bordering France, Belgium and Luxembourg and with a population of about 4 million,
RSS