Posted on 03/03/2005 12:49:35 AM PST by Cableguy
HE was a master of strategy when it came to chess, but Bobby Fischer is being outplayed by the IRS. The former world champ, now a tax fugitive given to anti-American, anti-Semitic ravings, is spending his days in the East Japan Immigration Bureau Detention Center while he awaits extradition to the U.S. Fischer is waiting for an Icelandic passport, which would afford him sanctuary in Reykjavik. But Chesscafe.com reports Brooklyn-born Fischer, who hasn't filed tax forms since 1976, will lose his fortune regardless. "He can be tried in absentia and, with a series of computer key strokes, that juicy UBS account so chock-full of Swiss francs will vanish into the digital ether without a trace."
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
The guy is a bigot, a s**t and a genius. I think he needs to have his teeth handed to him for his offensiveness, but I think the US Govt. hounding of a crazed fool is winning him more fans than his chess ever did. At some point the authorities should waive charges on grounds of being criminally unpleasant. After all, he did waive his citizenship, so why not just enforce it and ensure he never returns to US? Less heavy handed and everybody wins...
I loathe him, but I can't help sympathising with a '1 man against a superpower story' even when the man is as unpleasant as our hero...
The great irony is his use as a pawn in the cold war.
Fischer is quite seriously mentally ill. He rants like a paranoid schizophrenic and is obviously not in control of his faculties.
I agree, but that hardly justifies the waste of resources against him. If we're going to round up people who are actually dangerous, I'm sure we can all think of a great number of more worthy targets....
I'll never forgive him. Because of his performance Andrew LLoyd Webber was able to release "Chess"...My eardrums may never recover....
(Except for '1 night in Bangkok...'. That was charming)
I agree with that.
And the IRS zapping his Swiss bank account after trying him in abstentia is scary.
Is Jesse Jackson next?
One can only hope.
DD
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