The U.S. Attorney’s Office replied to Richard Hatch’s appeal on Friday. Hatch, the former Survivor winner who didn’t pay his taxes on his $1 million prize, recently filed an appeal of his conviction. Hatch, in his appeal, alleged that he caught the producers cheating, and that’s why they reneged on paying his taxes; further, he never got a chance to testify about that at his trial. Hatch is currently serving his prison sentence in Morgantown, West Virginia.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office, though, has a different view. According to the Associated Press, Hatch had plenty of opportunity to bring the issue up during his trial. Hatch and his attorney were told that they could present evidence that CBS and the Survivor producers agreed to pay his taxes. CBS, by the way, denies Hatch’s claims.
The AP quotes the prosecution brief, “What the court was unwilling to tolerate was a sideshow concerning whether the producers helped other contestants cheat, divorced from the key defense predicate: that this had all led to the alleged promise…Counsel’s failure [to present evidence] cannot be transformed into an abuse of discretion by the court….”
For bloggers like me, I do hope that the Hatch case lasts as long as his sentence. It sure is amusing, but there is a salient point that can be gleemed from this case. No matter what others may promise to do, you are responsible for the paying of your taxes.
Tags: Hatch