Indy 500 champ to face tax charges

A former winner of the blue riband Indianapolis 500 race is gearing up for a court battle after a judge denied a motion to dismiss some of the counts in an upcoming tax evasion trial.

Together with his sister and his attorney, Helio Castroneves has been charged with allegedly scheming to evade taxes on more than $5m (£3.36m) of income between 1999 and 2004, webcpa reported.

Castroneves, his sister and business manager Katiucia Castroneves, and his attorney Alan R Miller are accused of using an offshore Panamanian shell corporation known as Seven Promotions to conceal income he received from his racing sponsors, Coimex Internacional and Penske Racing.

Castroneves, his sister and Miller are accused of engaging in a scheme to avoid paying taxes by creating a deferred royalty plan that required Penske to send the payment to a company in the Netherlands instead of to Seven Promotions.

US District Judge Donald Graham refused to throw out the charges last week, but a hearing will take place today on another motion to dismiss other charges in the case.