Tax crime doesn’t pay — coverage of tax fraud, evasion, and financial crime prosecutions, and what they mean for the rest of us.
Richard Hatch may survive but only after completing his 51 month prison sentence for tax evasion. The former “Survivor” champion had filed an appeal to reduce his prison sentence after being convicted of not paying taxes on his “Survivor” winnings. The court failed to overturn the conviction, leaving Hatch to finish out his full sentence….
Apparently money can buy you a lot of things, including your freedom. Actor Wesley Snipes, who has publicly commented that he knew that not paying his taxes “sounded too good to be true,” was acquitted of federal tax fraud and conspiracy charges. He was, however, convicted of failing to file tax returns from 1999 to…
Following his convictions for tax evasion and bankruptcy fraud in June 2007, former celebrated civil rights attorney Stephen Yagman was sentenced to three years in federal prison. He has yet to go to jail, although his sentence was scheduled to begin on Tuesday. Yagman was scheduled to begin serving his sentence on January 15, 2008.However,…
The Snipes defense rested without offering any witnesses. His legal team didn’t feel that any argument or witnesses were needed, saying: “We could have put on a big show, but we don’t do that. We’re not going to waste the jury’s time.” The same team that had claimed that their portion of the trial could…
I’ll be frank. I don’t always love being a lawyer. When I was a little girl, I used to watch Perry Mason with my grandfather on TBS. That constituted my entire legal experience before entering law school. And it was flawed. You see, on TV, none of the lawyers lied to Perry Mason over the…
Wesley Snipes cannot, as my mother would say, win for losing. As one of his many, many claims and motions filed in his tax evasion case, the star of “Blade” had argued that two of his attorneys were unfit for trial. Now, he wants one of them back. Daniel Meachum tried to rejoin the Snipes…
Will Muhammad Ali deliver a knockout punch in favor of actor Wesley Snipes? The former heavyweight champ and “Sportsman of the Year” is one of many names that attorneys for Wesley Snipes presented at trial as potential character witnesses. Other names that were mentioned as potential witnesses to vouch for what a good guy Snipes…
I hear the weather’s lovely there this time of year. US District Judge William T. Hodges has ruled that Wesley Snipes’ federal tax-evasion trial will go forward in Ocala, Florida, despite a plea from Snipes’ attorney to move the trial to New York to avoid what he calls “a hotbed of KKK activity.” This is…
Wesley Snipes has even more to say about his tax evasion charges. So far, he’s made claims that he is being unfairly targeted because he’s black; he can’t get a fair trial in Ocala, Florida because it is a “hotbed” of KKK activity; his attorney was unfit for trial; and has compared himself to a…
In an update to my previous story about Stephen Yagman, the National Law Journal has reported that Yagman received three years in federal prison after being convicted earlier this year on bankruptcy fraud and tax evasion. Yagman will likely retire in prison: he is 63 years old. Yagman was also sentenced to two years of…