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Monday, November 20, 2017

Burden of Proof on the Eighth Amendment Excessive Fines Issue (11/20/17)

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I was reading again the unpublished opinion in United States v. Bussell , 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 21189 (9th Cir. 2017), here , which I blogged...
Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Another Bullshit Tax Shelter Bites the Dust (11/14/17)

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In Smith v. Commissioner , T.C. Memo. 2017-218, here , the taxpayers implemented and claimed the tax benefits of a tax shelter concocted by ...
Monday, November 13, 2017

Fifth Circuit on Bruton Confrontation Clause Issue and Deliberate Ignorance / Willful Blindness Issue (11/13/17)

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In United States v. Gibson , ___ F.3d ___, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 22261 (5th Cir. 2017), here , a nontax case, the Court hit some themes that ...

The Birkenfeld Prosecution, Conviction and Sentence (11/13/17)

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When I read the decision in Birkenfeld v. Olenicoff , 2017 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 7675 (Cal. Ct. App. 4th Dist. Div. 3 2017), which I blogge...

Birkenfeld Loses Malicious Prosecution Suit and Appeal Against His Partner in Crime, Olenicoff (11/13/17)

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In my periodic sweep for new cases for my blogs and publications, I came across Birkenfeld v. Olenicoff , 2017 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 7675 (...
Monday, November 6, 2017

ICIJ Offers a New Trove of Offshore Activity Documents -- the Paradise Papers (11/6/17)

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The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has struck again, disclosing a cache is new documents disclosing offshore a...

Seventh Circuit Reverses Conviction in Tax Case Presided Over by Judge Posner (11/6/17)

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United States v. El-Bey , 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 20897 (7th Cir. 2017), here , is interesting because (i) it is a tax case, (ii) the Seventh C...

Ninth Circuit NonTax Case on Good Faith Defense and Objective Reasonableness (11/6/17)

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Federal tax crimes usually require that the defendant have acted willfully, with intent to violate a known legal duty.   Cheek v. United Sta...
Sunday, November 5, 2017

Court Rejects Braswell Claim That Government Questions Violated Braswell (11/5/17)

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In  Braswell v. United States , 487 U.S. 99 (1988), here , the Court dealt with the tensions between the Fifth Amendment act of production ...
Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Tax Aspects of the Manafort and Gates Indictment Obtained by Special Counsel Mueller's Office (11/1/17)

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Readers of this blog will almost certainly have been exposed to news about the indictment that Special Counsel Mueller's office obtaine...
Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Sentencing Guidelines Analysis for FBAR Convictions (10/31/17)

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A couple of days ago, I posted a blog entry about an FBAR plea where, in the plea agreement, the Government stated that it had changed its p...
Sunday, October 29, 2017

Sentencing Commission Quick Facts on Sentencing for Tax Crimes (10/29/17)

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I am working up a more detailed analysis of the Government's recently disclosed Eureka moment for the proper Sentencing Guidelines calcu...
Saturday, October 28, 2017

New Cumulative Supplement to Federal Tax Procedure Book (10/28/17)

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I have posted a Cumulative Supplement, dated 10/28/17 to my Federal Tax Procedure Book.  The book and the supplement can be downloaded from ...

Article on the Fourth Amendment in a Digital World (10/28/17)

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I recently alerted readers to the Supreme Court's acceptance of certiorari in Microsoft Corp. v. United States , 829 F.3d 197 (2d Cir. 2...
Friday, October 27, 2017

Ninth Circuit Summarily Rejects Arguments Against FBAR Willful Penalty (10/27/17)

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In United States v. Bussell ,  (9th Cir. No. 16-55272 10/25/17), unpublished opinion, here , the background was In June 2013, the IRS asse...

Another FBAR Plea And Notice of Government Change of Position on Applicable Guidelines (10/27/17)

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DOJ Tax announced here another FBAR plea.  The defendant is Hyung Kwon Kim, identified as a "Greenwich, Connecticut man" (which I...
Tuesday, October 17, 2017

TIGTA Report on CI (10/17/17)

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TIGTA recently issued a report titled Declining Resources Have Contributed to Unfavorable Trends in Several Key Criminal Investigation Busin...

Supreme Court Accepts Cert in Microsoft Involving Search Warrants for Emails on Foreign Servers (10/17/17)

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Guest bloggers previously wrote about the Microsoft case and the Stored Communications Act.  Peter D. Hardy and Carolyn H. Kendall, Guest B...