Dorothea Wied Blomquist, 50, of Foxfield Drive, Skaneateles, pleaded guilty in federal court on Aug. 17 to failure to report a foreign bank account and tax fraud, and has agreed to spend 16 months in prison followed by a three-year supervised release.
She also agreed to “forfeit certain assets” to the United States and to pay all taxes, interest and penalties owed to the IRS and New York State.
Although the U.S. Attorney’s Office did not say what assets Blomquist will forfeit, it is likely to be any legal rights she has to the $1.4 million (assessed value) property and house at 1808 West Lake Road, which the federal government seized last month after sentencing Blomquist’s ex-husband, Charles L. Blomquist, 52, who pleaded guilty to three drug trafficking-related felony charges in U.S. District Court in Syracuse on July 22.
Dorothea Blomquist’s guilty plea is apparently a result of the U.S. Attorney’s office’s investigation into her ex-husband, whom the government charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, failure to report foreign bank accounts and tax fraud stemming from illegal activities beginning in the 1980s and continuing up to 2009. The government has maintained that Blomquist’s illegal activities stemmed from illegal drug trafficking.
Charles Blomquist admitted to acquiring a significant amount of money from “specified illegal activities” and moving the proceeds to overseas bank accounts where it would be more difficult for the Internal Revenue Service and other federal law enforcement agencies to locate. He also admitted that he willfully failed to report interest income from various bank accounts and that he lied on his federal income tax returns in order to disguise and conceal the proceeds from his unlawful activities.
Charles Blomquist admitted in court in July that he paid for the West Lake Road million-dollar house construction completely in cash and from the proceeds of his admitted illegal activities. He said the property was put in his ex-wife’s name from 1994 until 2007 in an effort to disguise and conceal the true ownership. In 2007, his ex-wife conveyed her interest in the lakefront property for no consideration to their daughter to again disguise and conceal the true ownership.
The 6,000-square-foot mansion, about nine miles down the west side of Skaneateles Lake near Mandana, is distinctive for its blue roof and stone castle-like architecture.
Under the terms of her plea agreement, Dorothea Blomquist is required to surrender to U.S. marshals at a time designated by the court after sentencing. Her sentencing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Dec. 20 in U.S. District Court in Syracuse.
Charles Blomquist was required to surrender to the U.S. Marshals Service by Sunday, Aug. 21. His sentencing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Nov. 22, in U.S. District Court in Syracuse.
