Former Swiss banker Bradley Birkenfeld has been released from prison where he had served 30 months of his 40-month sentence for his work at UBS, AG helping clients hide their offshore bank accounts. Mr. Birkenfeld exposed the Swiss bank as a facilitator for U.S. taxpayers who wished to commit tax…
The sentence of an individual who pled guilty to tax fraud was affirmed by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. John McKinney was charged with eleven counts of tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud, impede, impair, obstruct and defeat the functions of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the collection…
A North Carolina residential builder was arrested on criminal tax charges stemming from his civil tax problems. The Department of Justice and the IRS announced that William B. Clayton was charged with one count of attempting to obstruct IRS efforts to collect his unpaid tax liabilities and one count of…
The convictions of a couple that committed tax fraud were affirmed by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The husband and wife were the owners and operators of a firm that prepared personal income tax returns in Texas. Donald Womack misrepresented himself as an accountant who has previously worked for…
Denise Rich, former wife of commodities trader Marc Rich who was indicted in the 1983 on charges of tax fraud, gave up her U.S. citizenship, avoiding potential future tax problems. The 68 year-old woman is a Grammy-nominated songwriter whose songs have been recorded by Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige and…
Tax problems abound for Lauryn Hill, who won five Grammys for her 1998 debut album. Her album, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” might describe her alleged actions to stop paying taxes and subsequent consequences. Former member of the Fugees band, Ms. Hill, who’s also an actress, has been charged by…
A physician in Kentucky was arrested and charged last month with four counts of tax fraud pursuant to Internal Revenue Code Section 7201, and two counts of failure to file tax returns in violation of IRC section 7203. According to the indictment Dr. Werner Grentz had failed to file income…
The criminal tax conviction of a New Jersey couple (the DeMuros) for failure to pay payroll taxes to the IRS was affirmed by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, United States v. DeMuro (3d Cir. 2012). The willful failure to pay payroll taxes is a violation Internal Revenue Code (IRC)…
Our tax litigation attorneys are often asked whether failing to report income is tax fraud. We explain that there are various “badges of tax fraud,” and a simple omission of income may not be tax fraud. A recent Tax Court case illustrates that when coupled with other badges of tax…
The failure to file a Foreign Bank Account Report TD F 90-22.1 (FBAR) for an offshore bank account has led to the seizure of an Alaska plastic surgeon’s $4.6 million dollar account at a Seattle branch of Bank of America. According to the complaint filed in District Court Alaska plastic…