Taxable Talk

Because Mark Steyn is.

You haven’t hear of Mark Steyn? You haven’t read Mark Steyn? His daily column is available on his web site. His column is carried by many newspapers, including the Orange County Register. He appears weekly on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show every Wednesday. And he’s a much better writer than I am.

Macleans magazine, the Canadian newsweekly, is paying Mark Steyn to write a blog on the Conrad Black trial. It’s extremely entertaining, and quite worth reading.

So if you want a Conrad Black fix, go to Mark Steyn’s Macleans Conrad Black blog.

Two diametrically opposed visions of Hollinger, Inc. were presented to jurors in Chicago in opening arguments of the Conrad Black trial. Prosecutors, quoted by Bloomberg, called Hollinger Black’s “personal piggy bank.” His attorneys, though, claimed “[the] company was stolen out from under him.”

And it was only the first day.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that David Radler, Black’s former partner, will be the key witness against Black. Radler settled with the SEC and the Sun-Times media group for $72 million last week. In 2005 Radler pleaded guilty to fraud and agreed to cooperate with the government.

News Story: Bloomberg

Well, it’s time for an uber-post. We’ve got plenty of fraud to share, with two practitioners in trouble, an IRS agent, what should be a circus of a trial, and a pilot that may be grounded.

First up comes one from the internal affairs department. An IRS agent is accused of evading $21,000 in taxes. He also allegedly offered other taxpayers by selling deductions from a company that coincidentally shares the same address as the agent. Harry Wilner could face 15 years at ClubFed if he’s found guilty, according to this story.

Meanwhile, in Chicago, a CPA has pleaded guilty to three counts of preparing false tax returns. Pepito Guinto added phony medical deductions, charitable contributions, and unreimbursed business expenses to some of his clients (a reported 57 of 4780). His brother, Pablo, has also allegedly committed the same crime. He, though, has fled the United States and is reported (by this news story) to be in the Visayas. Pepito will likely serve three years or so at ClubFed.

Staying in the Windy City, the trial of Conrad Black will soon begin. As I reported last year, Black faces multiple counts of tax fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and RICO. As this news story notes, “It has just about everything a good drama should – power, money, allegations of corruption, a lord and lady of the realm and a self-perceived knight in shining armour who’s standing up for his damsel in distress.” I’ll keep you updated as the trial, scheduled to begin on Wednesday, moves along.

Moving now to South Carolina, a CPA is alleged to have forgotten something important: paying his state income tax. Rex Wicker, of Pawley’s Island, is accused of not paying $18,000 in taxes according to this story. If true, he’s certainly not setting a good example….

Finally, a pilot for FedEx is in trouble for allegedly filing false tax returns from 2000 – 2004. Michael Mason, of Cordova, TN, is accused of not filing tax returns during the years in question. According to this news story, the indictment accuses Mason of having income of over $1 million in each of those years, and using nominee bank accounts to hide his income. He faces a minimum 30 years at ClubFed if convicted on all counts.