Oddity du Jour:: William Koch Accused of Kidnapping, Interrogating Employee

From Courthouse News:

Billionaire William Koch imprisoned and interrogated one of his executives at a secluded Aspen ranch, under a sheriff's guard, because the executive suspected Koch's companies of tax evasion, the employee claims in Federal Court.

     Kirby Martensen, of Berkeley, Calif., says he was an executive for several companies owned and controlled by William Koch, including Oxbow Carbon & Minerals Inc. (OCM) and Oxbow Carbon & Minerals International (OCM International), until March, when he says he was suddenly fired.

     OCM and OCM International are part of the Oxbow Group, an energy development holding company based in West Palm Beach, Fla. Koch founded the Oxbow Group in the 1980s after leaving his family's oil-refining conglomerate, Koch Industries.

     Oxbow Carbon is the largest distributor of petroleum coke in the world, with annual shipments of nearly 11 million metric tons to U.S., Asian, European, Latin American and Pacific Rim markets, according to the company's website.

     Martensen says OCM International promoted him to senior vice president, Asia, in 2011, and he relocated to the company's Singapore office with promises that his family's expenses and his children's education would be covered.

     "Martensen understood that the goal of this assignment was to help legitimize OCM's Bahamian shell company," according to the complaint in the Northern District of California. "This included, but was not limited to, discussions and negotiations concerning the sourcing of pet-coke and sales to Asian customers. Plaintiff was informed that the move to Asia was for tax purposes. More than 75 percent of Oxbow's fuel-grade petroleum coke export profits were derived from its Asian trading business. Plaintiff has information and believes this relocation was part of a plan being implemented to evade paying taxes to the United States on profits in excess of $200,000,000 per year. ...MORE

HT: naked cap