Indy Car champ and Dancing With The Stars hoofer Helio Castroneves is in Miami right now, but it's a good bet he's not enjoying the pleasures of South Beach. No, at the moment a jury is deciding on Castroneves' fate in a major tax conspiracy trial. Castroneves faces, at worst, millions in fines and back taxes and decades in prison. Yes, this is serious.

The Miami Herald has a fine breakdown of the case. At issue is whether Castroneves, the former Indy 500 champion, dodged taxes on $5.5 million. He received more than $500,000 fromm a Brazilian trading company, Coimex International, just before he broke huge with Penske. Castroneves also received $5 million in a 1999 licensing deal with Penske.

To date, according to the IRS, Castroneves has paid only $50,000in taxes, which, according to my meager math skills, is less than 1 percent of the total of his revenue. I'm fairly sure Castroneves isn't in that joyous 1-percent tax bracket, which means he owes a bit more: $2.3 million, to be exact, according to prosecutors.

The 12 federal jurors deciding the case have been deliberating since Friday in the case, which includes Castroneves' sister/manager Katiucia and his attorney Alan R. Miller. All three are charged with conspiracy, and if they're convicted of any charges in the seven-count indictment, are looking at five years in jail apiece.

Now, in Castroneves' defense, lawyers say that the Coimex money went to Castroneves' father, and the Penske money went to a Dutch annuity account, one on which Castroneves will begin paying taxes next month, when he starts reciving that money. (Jimmie Johnson also testified as a character witness for Miller.)

Not so fast, Helio, prosecutors say; taxes should have been withheld in 2000, 2001 and 2002, and that Castroneves intended to retire to a tax haven like Monaco, and -- and your eyes are starting to glaze over, aren't they? All right, bottom line: he's looking at the possibility of a whole lot of trouble. And we'll know soon enough if it catches up to him.