Interview of R. J. Ruble, A Tax Lawyer Incarcerated for Tax Shelter Crimes (2/13/13)

The most recent edition, Winter 2013, of the ABA Tax Section NewsQuarterly has an interview of R.J. Ruble by Jasper L. Cummings, Jr.  The interview is here.

Mr. Ruble was the law firm partner convicted in the major KPMG individual defendant tax shelter prosecution, the first of three successive prosecutions of tax shelter promoters associated with major accounting firms and law firms.  Readers of this blog  will remember that that case, in addition to producing convictions of three prominent tax professionals (including Mr. Ruble), had earlier seen the dismissal of thirteen tax professionals associated with KPMG because the prosecutors had pressured KPMG to quit paying their legal fees.  See United States v. Stein, 541 F.3d 130 (2d Cir. 2008), here.  As to Mr. Ruble, I blogged the Second Circuit's affirmance of his conviction in the following blog:  Larson, Pfaff, Ruble Convictions In KPMG Tax Shelters Case Affirmed (Federal Tax Crime Blog 8/27/10), here.  Mr. Ruble remains incarcerated.

I thought that, pending the availability of the full interview, I would offer the final Q&A (hopefully fair use):

Q  Is there anything else you would like your fellow tax attorneys to know about being a lawyer in prison? 

A  Once you’re in prison, it doesn’t matter what you did on the outside, and the skills you had may not be particularly useful in a prison environment. It’s a very humbling experience. I think that, as with all things in life, you need to be  reflective about how you live your life from day to day, to decide what you can do that gives you satisfaction, and to move forward as best you can. For those who have friends or acquaintances inside, realize that for those of us here any positive connection with those on the outside makes life here much more tolerable, and that what may seem as a small act of kindness becomes magnified many times over to the recipient.

Mr. Cummings, the interviewer, has recently written an article that questions the convictions of tax shelter promoters such as Mr. Ruble for the types of shelters involved in these major prosecutions.  Jasper L. Cummings, Jr., DOJ Criminal Tax Overreach, 138 Tax Notes 745 (Feb. 11, 2013).  I have received permission from Tax Analysts to provide that article on February 25 and plan to have a blog on the article on that date.