Renaissance / The Tax People President Convicted!

[skassel]

Mr. Serra, I remember the days of misc.taxes.moderated all too well.

Let's go through the items you mentioned:

1) At no point did IRS or DOJ even allege I did ANYTHING criminal. Every tax return I prepared was looked over very carefully by IRS. Every speech I made was recorded and listened to by IRS and the DOJ. There wasn't a single thing I sad that was considered even remotely problematic. Every phone call where hundreds or thousands of IMAs were listening in were recorded. No problems there either. In fact, if you look at the transcripts from the civil case I filed against the IRS, IRS and DOJ never said I did or said anything illegal.

2) I was not a Regional Director for TTP. Those were sales people. I was Director of Tax Resolution. My agreement with TTP was to represent any of our customers (99% of which were Independent Marketing Associates, hence the pyramiding problem) for a reduced rate. To that end, I did daily phone calls for 2 hours at a time where I would answer a huge number of questions related to delinquent taxes. The problem was I gave out WAY too much free information and the IMA's were 1) Cheap as hell and 2) Didn't give a crap about their tax obligations.

3) Why did I stay involved? I stayed involved because I felt strongly (and wrongly) that we were making corrections to everything the company had done. Two problems there were 1) The bad acts already done meant the company should have been dead and buried on the spot. It would have made far more sense to kill it off. 2) Cooper was telling the top producers to keep doing what they were doing. And, I foolishly believed the marketers would hire me for tax problem resolution and again I was wrong.

4) Jesse Cota. I was with Jesse a lot. The entire summer of 2000 we were together just about everyday. We worked on the new video and new publications and manned the booth at the IRS Nationwide Forums in 6 cities. I NEVER once heard or saw Jesse say or do anything that was remotely problematic. I have never seen the transcripts of Jesse's criminal trial so I don't know what happened there. I do know that Chuck Rettig was a GREAT criminal defense attorney and he advised Jesse to plead.

5) Cooper put out lots of information including that document that we never saw. We did bring in tax professionals, but as tax professionals, not as marketing associates. Recruiting refers strictly to selling the program which we did not do at all. I didn't even know how to fill out that paperwork. Jesse didn't either.

6) I responded to many of those comments very unprofessionally. What's there is there. You can see them in all their glory.

7) People that committed felonies were prosecuted. Properly so. I wasn't ever accused of any such acts. Period.

To notorial dissent...I believe I answered this, but I stayed around because I truly believed that if we corrected everything AND acted in the same manner, everything would be fine. As noted, the dice had already been rolled. My mistake.

9) To Observer...you may believe whatever you wish. I haven't hidden anything and I'm not bothered by negative comments towards me. Many of them are deserved.

The fact is I had virtually no contact with Cooper directly. He was in Topeka and I was in Burlingame, CA. We talked in person a total of two times for about 10 minutes. I made a big mistake by believing he would do what he said he would do and I paid the price for that. Call it whatever you wish.

It appears you have hatred for Jesse in particular and minorities in general. I NEVER discussed anything with him about his days with the Service. Perhaps you have far more information than I do. Regardless, Jesse went to prison for two years and lost his CPA license permanently. Enough said.

I have no idea who Observer is, but if he had spent even two minutes researching he would have found that Judge Claudia Wilken reversed herself. A little background. In 1999, I started posting comments I received from disgruntled clients about JK Harris, which was the largest tax negotiation firm in the country. They were charlatans. JK Harris sent me a letter telling me to take the comments down or he would sue me. He did so. He was eventually shut down by the Feds and state and forced into bankruptcy. He had to give up his CPA license as well. Everything I said about Harris was correct. His company was horrible.

J.K. Harris & Co. LLC v. Steven Kassel, et al.
253 F.Supp.2d 1120, Civ. No. 02-0400 CW (N.D.Ca., Mar. 28, 2003)

The Court rendered this decision on defendants' motion for reconsideration. In reaching this result, the Court vacated its prior order, enjoining defendants from using plaintiff's mark in ways designed to dramatically increase the site's ranking on search engines. In this vacated order, the court had enjoined defendants from "using 'J.K. Harris' or any permutation thereof as a keyword for the taxes.com website more often than is necessary to identify the content of the website," from using header tags and underline tags around sentences containing plaintiff's trade name, or from increasing the prominence and font size of sentences which include plaintiff's trade name. In this vacated order, the court denied plaintiff's request to enjoin defendants from making any use of plaintiff's trade name on the site however, holding that defendants could use the trade name in links to other sources of information about plaintiff on the web, as well as in disseminating truthful factual information about plaintiff, provided such use was "reasonably necessary" and not excessive.

I might even know Observer. If you wish to contact me directly, please let me know.

[wserra]

Mr. Kassel PM'ed me to ask who I was. I have never hidden that, from here all the way back to Usenet and all places in between. I do not, however, care to converse privately. My name is Wesley Serra, NY Bar 1018886. No, I am not a tax practitioner, but one picks some things up in 44 years of practice. I have defended, albeit many years ago, criminal tax cases.

Let's go through the items you mentioned:

1) At no point did IRS or DOJ even allege I did ANYTHING criminal . . . In fact, if you look at the transcripts from the civil case I filed against the IRS, IRS and DOJ never said I did or said anything illegal.

Of course they did. You don't have to be indicted for the govt to claim you violated the law. You don't have to be indicted for the govt to believe that you violated the criminal law. It's not at all uncommon for the govt to identify those it believes were in charge of an organization and only go after those people.

In fact, I had already pulled a couple of docs from your suit against the govt disputing the § 6700 penalty it had assessed against you. 06-cv-3273 (CAND). Let's begin with the govt trial brief. I was going to summarize it, but decided that it's better that anyone interested in this conversation read it for himself/herself. The degree of your involvement in and knowledge of TTP activities is, in my opinion, plenty to charge you as an aider and abettor, and likely as a principal (not that it matters once one is charged). Whatever the govt's reason for not indicting you, it wasn't because they couldn't.

And then there are the District Court's findings of fact following your trial. First the court discusses the myriad ways in which TTP advocated, frequently in printed material, tactics which were not just wrong but illegal. Then the Court concludes that you not only knew of them, but promoted them:

4. Kassel made or furnished this false information in the following ways:

a. Directly selling two TRS's [Tax Relief System, TTP's wondrous process for claiming false deductions. - WS];
b. Publishing claims that the information in TTP materials were "100% correct, legal, ethical, and moral";
c. Promoting the TRS on his website in a manner that included summaries of several of the false statements described above; and
d. Editing the TRS manual in which much of the false information described above was expressed.

5. And Kassel caused other persons to make or furnish this false information by:

a. Promoting the TRS by:

i. Speaking in favor of the TRS at opportunity meetings;
ii. Posting statements in favor of the TRS on internet user groups;
iii. Publishing statements in favor of the TRS on his website;
iv. Allowing his likeness and statements to be used in TTP promotional materials; and
v. Representing TTP at several IRS nationwide tax forums.

b. Exercising his authority over IMA’s. Though Kassel protests that he had no authority over IMA’s, evidence in the form of his own communications with other members of the TTP organization shows otherwise.

6. Kassel directly participated in the sale of two TRS's.

7. Kassel indirectly participated in the sale of other TRS's by:

a. Speaking at opportunity meetings;
b. Promoting the TRS through postings on user groups;
c. Promoting the TRS through statements on his website;
d. Promoting the TRS by allowing his likeness and statements to be used in TTP promotional materials;
e. Editing the TRS manual;
f. Promoting the TRS by representing the TTP at IRS nationwide tax forums;
g. Becoming regional director of the TTP unit, Affiliated Tax Professionals Network, in 2000;
h. Representing a TTP customer in a meeting with the IRS regarding the TRS;
i. Hosting weekly conference call for TTP customers; and
j. Submitting edits for the TTP promotional video, "Take a Bite Out of Your Taxes."

In response, all you say is that Judge Conti was asleep. It doesn't seem that way to me.
. . .

4) Jesse Cota. I was with Jesse a lot. The entire summer of 2000 we were together just about everyday. We worked on the new video and new publications and manned the booth at the IRS Nationwide Forums in 6 cities. I NEVER once heard or saw Jesse say or do anything that was remotely problematic. I have never seen the transcripts of Jesse's criminal trial so I don't know what happened there. I do know that Chuck Rettig was a GREAT criminal defense attorney and he advised Jesse to plead.

Perhaps you don't see the implications of what you write. You and Cota were joined at the hip during this time. Cota was indicted for his actions with TTP. His "great" lawyer told him to plead guilty. Getting the picture?
. . .

6) I responded to many of those comments very unprofessionally. What's there is there. You can see them in all their glory.

I am far more concerned with what you said rather than how you said it. You defended TTP against all criticism, to the point of becoming abusive. Unless you are generally an abusive person - something I don't know but hope not - the abuse was your reaction to seeing TTP criticized. That, like Judge Conti's findings of fact, is inconsistent with the picture you paint of your involvement.

7) People that committed felonies were prosecuted. Properly so. I wasn't ever accused of any such acts. Period.

Yes, you were. You just weren't indicted for them. As Observer put it, you were "extremely blessed".

[The Observer]

The fact is I had virtually no contact with Cooper directly. He was in Topeka and I was in Burlingame, CA. We talked in person a total of two times for about 10 minutes. I made a big mistake by believing he would do what he said he would do and I paid the price for that. Call it whatever you wish.

And this is part of the disconnect that I mentioned before. You keep bringing up instances where your involvement was allegedly minimal, benign and/or out of your control. But then we arrive at the result that your license was suspended for peddling a fraudulent scheme. The reader is supposed to believe that you just got nailed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Meanwhile WSerra has brought up significant evidence from the trial that shows your involvement went far beyond a ten-minute phone call.

It appears you have hatred for Jesse in particular and minorities in general. I NEVER discussed anything with him about his days with the Service. Perhaps you have far more information than I do. Regardless, Jesse went to prison for two years and lost his CPA license permanently. Enough said.

I have no hatred for Mr. Cota nor towards minorities. During his tenure as a District Director, Cota served competently and efficiently, and showed initiative in his position, such as expanding outreach services for the increasing number of non-English speakers in California, which included a significant number of Eastern Europeans and Russian immigrants after the fall of the Soviet Union. I had only brought up the fact that Cota was a minority in terms of him being selected for the executive program; as such he had gotten the advancement and recognition that the Big 5 firms had not given him. Whether Cota had experienced discrimination at the hands of the private sector is something that I do not know, but Cota seemed to imply that he believed it was the case, since he raised the fact of him being a minority in his telling of the story. The point of all this was to demonstrate that this was simply not enough for Cota, he wanted more. Given the fact that he had retired from the IRS with a good reputation, this made his sudden turn towards the dark side unfathomable.

I have no idea who Observer is, but if he had spent even two minutes researching he would have found that Judge Claudia Wilken reversed herself.

That may be, but the fact remains you were sued, which is what I was reporting. As well, that link also reports that you were sued by Don Fitch, a CPA and the court ordered sanctions against you and that you issued a letter of apology to Fitch:

Don Fitch Accountancy
74-478 Highway 111 Suite 3
Palm Desert, CA 92260

June 24, 2003

Dear Mr. Fitch:

I apologize for my accusations of unprofessional or unethical conduct that I made against you, including any made to the California State Board of Accountancy, IRS Director of Practice and AICPA, and any problems that these statements may have caused. I know that your work as a tax professional is competent and I wish you success in the future.

Sincerely,

Steven H. Kassel, EA
Founder & CEO

Is this allegation true? If so, did the judge reverse themselves in that case? Or did you have to pay $1,183 in sanctions? And by the way, you have never answered WSerra's question regarding whether you ever sued any of the people as you had threatened to do.

4. Kassel made or furnished this false information in the following ways:

Wes, that is quite a list of actions that the court cited. In one sense, it is ironic that Mr. Kassel is unable or unwilling to deal with the ramifications of that list. Why? Because the court is showing that there was responsibility and willfulness demonstrated by Kassel during his time with TTP. Those two terms are legal definitions that Mr. Kassel is very familiar with, since he was required to look for those factors and gather evidence supporting their existence as a revenue officer when recommending penalties against those people who failed to pay over trust fund taxes. Any RO worth their salt would recognize that the court's evidence clearly shows that Kassel exercised authority in TTP's operations and had decided to do it without being compelled or ignorant of what was actually happening. Given that Mr. Kassel is not an idiot or a moron, I have to conclude that he is just being plain stubborn at admitting that he was involved up to his neck and ignored what he was seeing going on.

You and Cota were joined at the hip during this time.

And considering that it appears that Kassel was involved approximately 12 months or so with TTP, how can one believe his claim of minimal involvement? This is why his response to my initial questions didn't ring true.

3) Why did I stay involved? I stayed involved because I felt strongly (and wrongly) that we were making corrections to everything the company had done. Two problems there were 1) The bad acts already done meant the company should have been dead and buried on the spot. It would have made far more sense to kill it off. 2) Cooper was telling the top producers to keep doing what they were doing. And, I foolishly believed the marketers would hire me for tax problem resolution and again I was wrong.

The truth that you are glossing over in that statement is that you stayed because you saw an opportunity to make money. Which is the same reason that Jesse Cota stayed as well. The court's findings demonstrate that you knew that there were serious problems, you continued to act within the organization despite your knowledge, and you continued to promote and sell TTP's products despite knowing that the company's claims were fraudulent. Your belated visit to Criminal Investigation and the AUSA in Kansas was an attempt to cover your butt and get forgiveness. In that you should be congratulated for taking the initiative to do so, it is most likely the strongest reason for why you didn't get prosecuted.

[skassel]

I obviously knew that my responses would bring criticism. I answered your questions and I appreciate your comments and viewpoints. Thank you.

[Gregg]

I hope we haven't scared you off.

You do seem like you know now that you've made mistakes and that means a lot to me, at least. As someone who knows what can happen when things go sideways, your experience is a positive that you can share here.

[Pottapaug1938]

I have to agree with skassel's having come here, asking for honest comment on his situation; and I like his respectful responses.