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June 23 (UPI) -- A Los Angeles civil rights lawyer who has represented a detainee at Guantanamo Bay and plaintiffs in police-abuse cases was indicted by federal prosecutors on charges of tax evasion and bankruptcy fraud. Stephen Yagman and his firm, Yagman & Yagman, failed to pay federal and state taxes and lied in a 1999 bankruptcy declaration to hide assets from the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles said in the 19-count indictment. With the money on which he didn't pay taxes, Yagman and his girlfriend financed a lifestyle ``that included high-priced vacations, gourmet restaurants,...

Civil rights lawyer Stephen Yagman was sentenced on Tuesday to three years in federal prison after being convicted earlier this year on bankruptcy fraud and tax evasion. U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson ordered Yagman, 63, a partner at Venice Beach, Calif.-based Yagman, Yagman & Reichmann, to begin serving his sentence on Jan. 15. He also sentenced Yagman to two years of supervised release after his prison term and ordered him to pay the government the costs of his prosecution. Wilson said he imposed a "serious sentence" after being "shocked" by Yagman's testimony, which he called "so transparently untrue in...

A famed civil-rights lawyer convicted of federal tax evasion and bankruptcy fraud has been asked to teach an undergraduate course on law, morality and social justice at a university, his attorney said Wednesday in urging a judge to not impose a prison sentence. Stephen Yagman, 63, was found guilty of trying to avoid paying more than $100,000 in federal income taxes while living what prosecutors painted as a lavish lifestyle that included Aspen vacations, high-end suits from London, and fine dining. At his sentencing hearing Wednesday, attorney Barry Tarlow said his client should be spared prison because he was in...

A civil rights attorney known for his police brutality lawsuits pleaded not guilty Monday to federal tax evasion charges. "I plead presumed innocent," Stephen Yagman said, reading a statement in federal court. "But I don't intend that to be construed to dignify the politically motivated, retaliatory charges." Yagman, 61, is accused of trying to avoid paying more than $100,000 in income taxes between 1998 and 2002. Prosecutors claim he hid about $617,000 he received from his mother and elderly relatives in New York, $24,000 in royalties from his legal writings, and transferred ownership of his 2,800 square-foot house near the...

. NEVER FORGET After being put on suspension from practicing Law for the 2nd time in his career Civil Rights Attorney STEPHEN YAGMAN told KNX Los Angeles Radio News that he was going to go on vacation for a month on his own Ranch/Farm in Communist Cuba. Yesterday now Federal Grand Jury-indicted Attorney STEPHEN YAGMAN, who has been doing all he can to shut down the Los Angeles Police Department and America's War on Terrorism, had his Passport pulled while paying $100,000 bail on charges Federal Tax Evasion. NEVER FORGET .

Yagman's attorney immediately accused the government of waging a political prosecution against someone who has repeatedly fought abuse by the government. The Venice attorney is accused of attempting to evade the payment of more than $100,000 in federal income taxes by concealing his assets and committing bankruptcy fraud, according to the U.S. attorney's office. Specifically, the indictment charged Yagman with one count of attempting to evade the payment of taxes, one count of bankruptcy fraud and 17 counts of money laundering.