Champion's 9/2 Hearing for Contempt

[.]

he had an appointment set with Thomas Cheung

Obviously they're hiding THOMAS CHEUNG, straw-man. Victory will immediately result.

[wserra]

then again he may just fall back on the lame "dog-ate-my-homework" excuse and get an extension from the court.

"The dog ate the IRS employees."

[.]

The dog ate the IRS employees.

Whereupon said dog barfed all over the very important papers I was going to file.

[wserra]

The declaration of "Murray Crews" which Champion filed in support of his motion is not only unsworn, it is not even signed. A quick search shows a "Murray Crews", in California, who in the last fifteen years has accumulated three tax liens and a bankruptcy.

Looks like Champion has a winner here, folks. If he doesn't go to jail, it'll probably be due only to the judge's reluctance to incarcerate for civil contempt.

[Nikki]

....

Champion states that when he arrived at the IRS office, no one at the IRS could locate "Thomas Cheung" or verify that any such person called "Thomas Cheung" worked for the IRS in Los Angeles. According to Champion, after several inquiries of several IRS employees at the office there, no one was able to find any Thomas Cheung. IRS personnel allegedly informed Champion that no such person worked at that IRS office.
Excellent weasel wording. Mr Cheung works in the El Monte office.

...

Champion says that on June 5 he received a call from a woman at the IRS who identified herself as a mail distribution clerk at the 300 N. Los Angeles Street office. He says that the woman told him that she was unable to locate an IRS employee by the name of Kathryn Meyer. He says that she stated that no such person as Kathryn Meyer worked in the Los Angeles office of the IRS. He says that the woman said she had checked with the IRS legal office, and that no one there had ever heard of Ms. Meyer either.
More weasel wording. Ms Meyer works for the Office of Chief Counsel, not the IRS, per se.

Spin, spin, spin.

[The Observer]

Excellent weasel wording. Mr Cheung works in the El Monte office.

Actually, can you just say "outright lie?" There is an extremely good chance that Mr. Cheung actually worked at the downtown LA office at the time of Mr. Champion's appearance date. Since then, the building experienced a severe environmental problem during a remodel and the IRS had to relocate many of the employees into surrounding offices.

Since it appears that Mr. Champion was appearing due to a summons served by Mr. Cheung, it would have been likely the good revenue agent would have scheduled the appearance to be at at a location where he worked. That is not to say that summons appearances can't be scheduled at alternate locations but for sake of convenience and access to the relevant files and documents it is much easier for the summonsed party to appear where the employee is assigned.

In any event, even if Mr. Cheung could not be located, it would have been a simple matter to ask to speak to one of the local exam group managers to find the elusive Mr. Cheung. After all, his group manager is located in the downtown LA building as well.

[LPC]

This is typical tax denier crap. If Champion really did show up on May 30, why didn't he say so when he was first ordered to show cause? Why wait until the last business day before his second contempt hearing to suddenly claim compliance?

This kind of legal brinksmanship is nothing but part of the passive-aggressive and narcissistic self-delusion game that tax deniers play. They think they're smart and in command, but they're just repeatedly shooting themselves in the feet.

And his story is not credible.

For example, I have never heard of an IRS "mail distribution clerk" calling someone to ask how to deliver a letter, and I have never heard of the IRS returning a letter when the addressee could not be found. The letter is opened and given to someone to deal with. Claiming that the IRS returned a letter addressed to the IRS without opening the letter and dealing with the contents is simply not credible.

[LPC]

The 8/11 order said that "The defendant is warned that his failure to appear at the hearing on September 2, 2008 may result in issuance of a bench warrant for his arrest." Despite Champion's filings on 8/28, I would have expected that the court would hold a hearing (or something) on 9/2, and that the court would have looked for Champion to show up for the hearing. However, the docket still shows nothing after 8/28.

Even if the court decided that Champion didn't need to appear, I would have expected to see an order from the judge granting a continuance or something, so the lack of any docket entry at all is rather curious.

[Famspear]

Entry 34 on the case docket dated Sept. 2, 2008 (finally posted!):

Proceedings: MOTION RE: CIVIL CONTEMPT

A hearing is held. The Court and counsel confer regarding the status of the case. Government informs the Court that the parties made an arrangement for Mr. Champion to meet with a representative of the IRS on September 5, 2008 to produce required documents pertaining to the subjects set forth in the summons.
This matter is continued to September 8, 2008, at 11:00 a.m. In the event that required
documents are produced, hearing on September 8, 2008 will be vacated.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

[Famspear]

Note: It appears that Dave Champion himself appeared, pro se, at the September 2nd hearing.

How nice of him to grace the Court with his presence.

Also appearing for Mr. Champion was a "Paul Horgan" (Provisional).

[LPC]

Entry 34 on the case docket dated Sept. 2, 2008 (finally posted!):

Proceedings: MOTION RE: CIVIL CONTEMPT

A hearing is held. The Court and counsel confer regarding the status of the case. Government informs the Court that the parties made an arrangement for Mr. Champion to meet with a representative of the IRS on September 5, 2008 to produce required documents pertaining to the subjects set forth in the summons.
This matter is continued to September 8, 2008, at 11:00 a.m. In the event that required
documents are produced, hearing on September 8, 2008 will be vacated.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

WOW! Champion really KICKED ASS!!

[jkeeb]

WOW! Champion really KICKED ASS!!

I am sure I said previously it would work.

[LPC]

Contrary to my immediately previous posting, the polling result "Appears, does not kick any ass, but the judge gives him one more chance to produce the records requested" appears to be the actual result of the 9/2 hearing.

A hearing for 9/8 is now scheduled, and a new thread/poll for that hearing might be appropriate, if anyone wants to start one.

Because this thread will now be locked.