Federal jury in Las Vegas indicts anti-tax author Irwin Schiff

Las Vegas Sun ^ | 3/23/2004 | Christina Almeida

[tbeatty]

Federal jury in Las Vegas indicts anti-tax author Irwin Schiff By CHRISTINA ALMEIDA ASSOCIATED PRESS

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A federal grand jury indicted anti-tax author Irwin Schiff and two associates Wednesday, charging them with conspiracy to defraud the United States by helping others file false tax returns.

Schiff, the author of "The Federal Mafia: How It Illegally Imposes and Unlawfully Collects Income Taxes," argues there is no legal requirement to pay income taxes. Government lawyers have been pursuing civil actions that would bar Schiff from selling his book and from holding tax seminars.

"There is no magic way out of paying taxes," said Eileen O'Connor, assistant U.S. attorney general for the tax division in Washington, D.C.

The 33-count indictment issued in Las Vegas charges Schiff, Cynthia Neun and Lawrence Cohen with aiding and assisting in the preparation and filing of fraudulent tax returns.

Schiff and Cohen also were charged with tax evasion. Neun will face additional charges of willfully failing to file federal income tax returns, Social Security disability fraud and theft of government property.

If convicted, Schiff faces a maximum sentence totaling 43 years in prison and $3.25 million in fines. Neun, Schiff's girlfriend who helps him conduct seminars, could receive a 51-year sentence and $3.4 million in fines, and Cohen faces a maximum 27 years and $1.5 million in fines.

"The indictment today reminds us that fulfilling individual tax obligations is a legal requirement and those who willfully evade that responsibility will be prosecuted," said Nancy Jardini, who oversees criminal investigations for the Internal Revenue Service.

[tbeatty]

Finally he is being prosectued. This tax cheat has been running his scam for years.

[agitator]

glad to see you're happy about people who write books being prosecuted. Maybe we should start prosecuting people who post at FR.

[Pharmboy]

Irwin and Cindy

[tbeatty]

Not for writing books. He was prosecuted for not paying income tax on the 3.2 million he made from writing books.

[newsmeat.com]

Irwin Schiff campaign contributions

[agitator]

Read the first line of the article you posted. That specifically relates to the book he published and which the federal govt previously prohibited him from selling. The govt doesn't like what he's saying and they're trying to make an example out of him.

[bearkat]

Gee... NO surprises THERE !! Cheaters seem to hang around in packs.

[jf55510]

Read the first line of the article you posted. That specifically relates to the book he published and which the federal govt previously prohibited him from selling. The govt doesn't like what he's saying and they're trying to make an example out of him.

Yeah they are trying to make an example out of him. An example of what happens if you don't pay taxes and help other file false tax returns. What they were charged with (from the article):

-A federal grand jury indicted anti-tax author Irwin Schiff and two associates Wednesday, charging them with conspiracy to defraud the United States by helping others file false tax returns.

-The 33-count indictment issued in Las Vegas charges Schiff, Cynthia Neun and Lawrence Cohen with aiding and assisting in the preparation and filing of fraudulent tax returns.

-Schiff and Cohen also were charged with tax evasion. Neun will face additional charges of willfully failing to file federal income tax returns, Social Security disability fraud and theft of government property.

-The indictment also alleges Schiff, Neun and Cohen encouraged clients to pay for additional products they offered to help the clients with their IRS problems and also charged them for any assistance with court proceedings or IRS correspondence.

-Federal prosecutors said Schiff's business, Freedom Books, generated $3.7 million from 1997 to 2002. Schiff did not report any income on federal income tax returns filed from 1987 to 2002 and hid money in an offshore bank account, according to the indictment.

So they cahrged him with all this to stop a book? I think not. They charged him because he broke the law.

[Catspaw]

Looks like Schiff will be able to try out his legal theories on taxation before a jury. I'll get the popcorn ready.

[agitator]

Anything he could tell someeone on the phone is already spelled out in his book. I've read it, you haven't. While I read his book without acting on the contents, that's not the point. The point relative to the majority of the counts is conspiracy, a nebuluous charge any federal prostitutor can bring with a rubber stamp. If I wrote a book on explosives and then you blew yourself up with it, is it my fault for writing the book or your fault for being stupid enough to act on it? How many other authors do you know who have had their books banned by the federal govt?

[Gorzaloon]

For some reason, these stories begin coming out every year at the end of March, and fade to silence on April 16th.

[ancient_geezer]

these stories begin coming out every year at the end of March, and fade to silence on April 16th.

Hmmm! looks like they are pretty busy all the time (except during Chrismas perhaps).

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/k-taxevasion/browse

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/k-taxprotester/browse

[blackie]

Oops. :)

[Lurking Libertarian]

Neun will face additional charges of willfully failing to file federal income tax returns, Social Security disability fraud and theft of government property.

If Cindy was collecting Social Security Disability payments while earning a living selling "how to beat the IRS" books, a jury will just love that.

[Lurking Libertarian]

More on Irwin Schiff here.

[kevkrom]

If I wrote a book on explosives and then you blew yourself up with it, is it my fault for writing the book or your fault for being stupid enough to act on it?

Not quite a fair comparison. If you wrote a book on explosives, a plan of action on how to use those explosives to commit a terrorist act, and then advocated in favor of that terrorist act, would you be liable if someone uses you book to commit just such an act?

(I'm not saying what the answer to that should be, juts putting the question on equal footing...)

[agitator]

That's not equal footing. A book on how to commit a terrorist act using explosives presumes somebody besides the reader is going to be the victim of a violent act. In this particular case, the only person liable to be the victim of a violent act is the reader of the book when the jackbooted thugs of the IRS bash the door in and point submachineguns at him when his only weapon was a pencil. In the case of the book on how to make explosives, advocating that somebody celebrate the fourth of july with nitroglycerin, if acted on, *might* injure somebody else besides the reader. In any event you'd have to be a moron to try it. We're not talking about inciting a riot in the middle of a crowd of crazy people, nor are we talking about screaming fire in a crowded theatre.

The issue is personal responsibility. It's up to the individual to decide what to do with the contents of a book or the contents of a speech. Govt doesn't like anybody else cutting in on its action. Considering that govt is advising people that the fraudulent Ponzi scheme known as Social Security is a good idea, they ought to be filing charges against themselves for conspiracy to defraud the American people.

[tbeatty]

The cool part was the civil suit in January when he plead insanity. His argument was that he became delusional after being the victim of a Ponzi scheme involving oil tax shelters in the seventies. He said the his delusion was that only he was capable of interpreting tax code. That's why he did it.

Then his girlfriend (social security fraud) sent out a newsletter saying the dinsanity plea was because his lawyers were too afraid to argue that the tax laws didn't exist.

Well, hopefully he'll have a nice long time to think about it and ponder the tax code for us (at our expense too).

[ClintonBeGone]

glad to see you're happy about people who write books being prosecuted. Maybe we should start prosecuting people who post at FR.

Let's first worry about the tax frauds first.

[ClintonBeGone]

Irwin Schiff campaign contributions

Figures he is a libertarian. Maybe once his ass is thrown in the cooler for 20 years they'll give up on some of their more bizarre notions of what the federal government can and can't do.