According to a DOJ Press Release, Curtis Morris and Richard Kellog Armstrong were convicted of "for mail fraud, filing false claims against the United States and conspiracy to file false claims against the United States." "Morris was found... Read More
In a First Superseding Indictment, here , filed June 14, 2012 in CD CA, three principals of a tax return preparation service, United Revenue Service ("URS") were indicted. The DOJ Tax Press Release is here, Three Tax Return Preparers Charged... Read More
In United States v. Purpura , 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28748 (MD PA 2012), Judge Sylvia H. Rambo granted the convicted defendant's motion to withdraw his plea of guilty to two counts of tax perjury, Section 7206(2) related to a false answer to the Schedule... Read More
I have previously blogged on Ronald Weinland. See Controversial Pastor, Self Proclaimed Prophet, Indicted re Income from Church Offerings and Offshore Accounts (11/21/11), here . My impression from afar is that he is just a charlatan (see here ) in the... Read More
In United States v. Litwok, ___ F.3d ___, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 8727 (2d Cir. 2012), here , the Second Circuit upset convictions for wire fraud and tax evasion, applying seeming settled principles. I address first the tax evasion convictions, although... Read More
A common parry in a tax criminal investigation or prosecution is to file a FOIA request with the IRS. The IRS / DOJ thrust is to resist. I provide at the end of this blog a general discussion of FOIA and the theories of resistance. In Shannahan... Read More
I have recently blogged on the issue of whether the fraud of some person other than the taxpayer signing the return which makes the return fraudulent allows the IRS an unlimited statute of limitations under Section 6501(c)(1), here . I list below the... Read More
Readers interested in the risks of being audited with respect to income tax noncompliance arising from foreign assets (particularly financial accounts) often ask what it takes for the IRS to prove fraud. I am aware of no standard litmus test of civil... Read More
In United States v. DeMuro, ___ F.3d ___, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 8094 (3d Cir. 2012) , enhanced opinion available to lexis.com subscribers, (Non-subscribers can download the unenhanced official opinion here ), the Demuros, husband and wife, were convicted... Read More
The Record, a California legal publication, reports on oral argument in a case involved the act of production doctrine which says, in effect, that although the contents of documents may not be privileged, a witness under compulsion to produce the documents... Read More
Yesterday, Humberto Gomez pled guilty, according to a DOJ Tax press release, here [the link is not yet available; I will post the link when I have it]. ... The tax loss seems low. The press release says: "For the years 2006 and 2007, the criminal... Read More
The Supreme Court yesterday decided Kawashima v. Holder, ___ U.S. ___, ___ S.Ct. ___, 2012 U.S. LEXIS 1084 (2012) , enhanced opinion available to lexis.com subscribers with summary, headnotes, and Shepard's. (Non-subscribers can download the unenhanced... Read More
In United States v. Kerr, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 98836 (D AZ 2012) , a case with two U.S. taxpayers and their lawyer as defendants, the court held that the indicted U.S. taxpayers' claims of reliance constituted a waiver of their attorney-client privilege... Read More
One of the risks in eggshell civil audits -- where risk of criminal prosecution is material -- is the possibility of parallel investigations. Parallel investigations are simultaneous civil investigations and criminal investigations. These can involve... Read More