Tycoon Allegedly Sold Rare Instruments To NJ Symphony

Associated Press

TRENTON, N.J. -- A philanthropist who sold millions of dollars worth of prized musical instruments at a discount to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra has fled to Cuba to avoid tax fraud charges, authorities said Wednesday.

A federal judge issued an arrest warrant for 76-year-old pet products tycoon Herbert Axelrod after the multimillionaire failed to show up for an arraignment on charges that he hid income from the Internal Revenue Service.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Guadagno said Axelrod's yacht is docked in Cuba, and the former Deal resident is staying at the Marina Hemingway, a four-star resort in Havana. The United States has no extradition treaty with Cuba.

Guadagno said Axelrod was aware of the charges against him and the court hearing that had been scheduled for Wednesday. An Axelrod associate told the U.S. Attorney's Office that Axelrod recently traveled from Zurich, Switzerland, to Cuba and had no intention of returning to this country, Guadagno told Judge Garrett Brown.

Attorney Michael Himmel, who had been representing Axelrod, said he had notified Axelrod of the indictment and Wednesday's court hearing, Guadagno told the judge. But Himmel, who did not attend Wednesday's proceeding, told Guadagno that he had not been retained by Axelrod for the tax case.

Axelrod was charged with using Swiss bank accounts to hide income from the IRS.

In February 2003, Axelrod sold his collection of 30 rare Italian string instruments to the NJSO for $18 million. They were valued at $50 million.
Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press.