Biggest Win for a TP Hands Down

[Joey Smith]

Of course, Anderson is still going to die in prison but it looks like the last laugh is on him.

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- It was a $100 million mistake, and a federal judge said Friday he does not have the power to fix it.

The U.S. Justice Department erred last year and cited the wrong law in a binding plea agreement with telecommunication entrepreneur Walter Anderson, the largest known tax evader in U.S. history. That mistake made it impossible for the government to recover between $100 million and $175 million, U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman said in March.

Prosecutors urged him to reconsider, but Friedman reluctantly said Friday that his hands were tied.

"The court is not free to read something into a contract that is not there or to interpret uncertain language in the government's favor," Friedman said.

Although prosecutors described the error as "a typo" -- typographical error -- and not "something that the court should be getting wrapped up about," Friedman said he could do nothing else.

He said he would have worked around the problem by ordering Anderson to repay the money as part of his probation. But prosecutors omitted any discussion of probation, a common element of plea deals, from Anderson's paperwork.

Friedman sentenced Anderson in March to nine years in prison and ordered him to repay $23 million to the District of Columbia but ordered no restitution to the federal government.

Prosecutors have promised that the Internal Revenue Service, the government's tax collectors, would sue Anderson in civil court to try to recover the money. That would require a new round of litigation in a court that does not wield the threat of more jail time. Prosecutors have said that Anderson has money stashed away in accounts around the world, a claim Anderson denied in court.

[Doktor Avalanche]

Methinks he following:

1. Someone's head is going to be on a platter for that "typo." That is a big, big screw-up.

2. It will also be a fine case study in law school regarding pitfalls that can lurk in plea bargain agreements and the like. The devil is in the details.

3. Does this count as a "TP" victory?

Oh God...this means the TPs are going to be even more insufferable.

[.]

He's an outright evader, not a TP.

The IRS will sue and win. Collecting is the hard part.

[grixit]

Hidden bank accounts? No one to receive the money since the principal is in jail? This is a job for a nigerian!

[webhick]

Christ...

Lost Horizons on this Article

And the scary excerpt:

Reread the IRC and look for typo's!

[Disilloosianed]

Geez Louise!

I guess the poster thinks he just discovered the idea that the law gets enforced as written.

[Demosthenes]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TAX
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2008 (202) 514-2007
http://WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888
D.C. COURT OF APPEALS CLEARS WAY
FOR $200 MILLION RESTITUTION ORDER IN TAX FRAUD CONVICTION
Court Also Affirms Nine-Year Prison Sentence
for Telecommunications Entrepreneur Walter C. Anderson
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that Walter C. Anderson, a local telecommunications entrepreneur and venture capitalist sentenced to nine years in prison for tax evasion, can be held accountable for the more than $200 million in restitution that he owes to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Justice Department announced today. Reversing the opinion of U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman, the D.C. Circuit held that there was no ambiguity in the plea agreement between the United States and Anderson; and reversed Judge Friedman’s holding that the court lacked authority to order the restitution to the United States as provided in the plea agreement. In September 2006, Anderson pleaded guilty to two counts of income tax evasion and one count of defrauding the District of Columbia. According to court documents, Anderson evaded payment of taxes on more than $450 million he earned through business ventures between 1995 and 1999 through the use of an elaborate evasion scheme involving offshore corporations.
After a three-day sentencing hearing in March 2007, Judge Friedman sentenced Anderson to nine years in prison and ordered Anderson to pay restitution to the District of Columbia in the amount of $22,809,032. However, Judge Friedman declined to enforce a clause in the plea agreement regarding restitution to the United States based on his interpretation of certain language in the plea agreement. In issuing his ruling, Judge Friedman invited the government to challenge his interpretation, stating, “I hope the government will appeal me on the federal restitution issue.” The Court of Appeals agreed with the government's interpretation of the plea agreement and sent the case back to Judge Friedman to allow him to order restitution. The Court of Appeals also affirmed the nine-year prison sentence imposed by Judge Friedman.
“We are pleased that the Court of Appeals affirmed the nine-year sentence for Anderson's tax fraud. This is a serious crime that calls for a severe sentence,” said Nathan J. Hochman, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “Justice in this case requires not only a prison term, but also full restitution, which the court's ruling now permits.”
Assistant Attorney General Hochman thanked the Justice Department attorneys who represented the federal government in the criminal case against Anderson and the IRS-Criminal Investigation agents who assisted them. Tax Division attorney Karen E. Kelly and Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan B. Menzer handled the case in the federal district court. Tax Division Appellate Attorney Elissa R. Hart-Mahan represented the government in the Court of Appeals.
Information about this case, as well as the Justice Department’s Tax Division, is available at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax.

[Demosthenes]

Please note that the judge that was reversed in this case is the same judge that can't make up his freakin' mind in the sentencing of DC detective Michael Irving.