Sarasota investor back in U.S. to face money laundering, drug charges

Investment company owner Daniel L. Prewett is back in federal custody in the United States, nine months after he fled to Italy to avoid a federal money laundering charge and a growing number of disgruntled clients.

Prewett, 57, former owner of JH Investment Services and two Jackson Hewitt tax preparation franchises, was free on $1 million bail when he left the United States early last year.

He was caught during a traffic stop and remained in jail in Pescara, Italy, until the extradition process was completed, according to court records and a U.S. Marshals Service spokesman.

Now, a federal magistrate has ordered Prewett held in custody without bail. He faces the money laundering charge and a drug conspiracy charge stemming from an October 2006 arrest related to a cocaine deal.

Just one of the five counts in the drug case carries at least 10 years in prison, according to federal sentencing guidelines.

Prewett served a prison term for cheating investors out of millions in New York in the mid-1980s, before he came to Florida.

At the time of his drug arrest, Prewett was running a network of businesses including two nightclubs, the tax preparing franchises and the investment firm that controlled millions in real estate.

Prewett was booked into the Hillsborough County jail in late December 2006. He fled to Italy in February.

While in Italy, he lost control of all of his business and personal finances through the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Tampa. His properties -- 27 houses and condominiums -- were sold last month at an auction.

That money is not going back in his pocket. But the last to get money will be the scores of unsecured creditors who are owed nearly $23 million, including former investors.

The Internal Revenue Service slapped Prewett with liens for failing to pay $49 million in taxes from 2003 through 2006.

And a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit alleges he formed more than 1,000 sham corporations and made illegal deductions to help taxpayers evade $138 million in income taxes in the past four years.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080105/NEWS/801050456