An accomplished professor emeritus of the Simon School of Business resigned his title Monday after the Department of Justice announced last Friday that he had paid a $100-million penalty and pleaded guilty to conspiracy for avoiding taxes through Swiss bank accounts.
Dan Horsky, who taught at the Simon School for over four decades, conspired to avoid paying taxes for years, according to the Department of Justice.
His criminal sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 10. He is facing a maximum sentence of five years and possibly additional fines.
“Beginning in approximately 1995, Horsky began investing in numerous start-up businesses through financial accounts at various offshore banks, including one bank in Zurich, Switzerland,” the announcement said. “Horsky created ‘Horsky Holdings,’ a nominee entity, to hold some of the investments, and he used the Horsky Holdings account, and later, other accounts at the Zurich-based bank, to conceal his financial transactions and financial accounts from the IRS and the U.S. Treasury Department.”
In one transaction, Horsky received about $80 million but only reported about $7 million of his profit to the IRS, the announcement said.
“Despite his extraordinary wealth, Mr. Horsky concealed funds offshore, failed to report substantial income, conspired to submit false expatriation documents to cover up his fraudulent scheme, and evaded paying his fair share of tax,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo said in the release.
Dean of the Simon School Andrew Ainslie told the Campus Times that he was surprised to hear about the situation.
“He retired in Dec. 2015 after a more than 40-year career as a marketing educator and scholar here at Simon Business School,” Ainslie said of Horsky. “His accomplishments as an academic were exemplary, and there was no knowledge on the part of the University of Rochester or the Simon Business School of his personal business activities.”
According to Ainslie, Horsky specialized in marketing and research consumer and firm behavior.
Horsky also created the school’s Master of Science program in Marketing, which was recently rebranded as the Marketing Analytics program.
“I would not have expected anything like this to occur,” Ainslie said, adding later, “His positive impact on Simon has been significant.”
A University statement said that UR fully supports lawful tax payment and educates its students on ethical businesses and social responsibilities.
Since stepping back from his professor emeritus title, Horsky is no longer affiliated with the University.
