A billionaire software developer who was battling the biggest individual tax evasion case in US history died Friday at his home in Houston, according to reports.
Robert Brockman, 81, a self-taught software entrepreneur who developed a system that helped car dealerships run their operations virtually, was fighting IRS allegations of money laundering and tax evasion worth over $2 billion since 2020.
Prosecutors said Brockman, who had a personal net worth of $4.7 billion, owned an $8 million Houston mansion, a Colorado ski cabin, a Bormbardier jet and a 209-foot yacht, named “Turmoil”.
Brockman suffered from dementia and his lawyers had repeatedly argued that he was unfit to stand trial, but a judge ruled in May that the trial would continue. At a hearing in June, the judge set a trial date for February 2023, with Brockman appearing in court via video link from his bed.
Born in Florida, where his father ran a gas station and his mother worked as a physical therapist, Brockman filed dozens of patents and founded Reynolds & Reynolds, a software company that had more than 5,000 employees and was worth more than $5 billion. dollars, according to Bloomberg.
In October 2020, federal prosecutors charged Brockman with using offshore companies, code names and cellphones to hide more than $2 billion in income from the IRS, most of it from Vista Equity Partners, a private equity firm he helped launch.
New York Post