The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals today ruled on the appeal of Glen Murphy, a Wisconsin Chiropractor, who had earlier been convicted of seven counts of filing false tax returns and three counts of not filing tax returns. After being sentenced to 41 months at ClubFed, Mr. Murphy appealed.
Judge Easterbrook gave the unanimous opinion of the Court. Here are some excerpts:
“After being charged, he tried to game the system and drag out the proceeding as long as possible.”
“AAA, from what we can tell, offered no legitimate services; it instead specialized in international-scale tax fraud. Murphy, himself no fan of taxes, turned to AAA in 1997 in an effort to dramatically lower his past and future income tax liability. AAA obliged, helping Murphy set up a sham, zero-income partnership that took on huge, predetermined losses in sums perfectly tailored to eliminate Murphy’s present and past tax liability. AAA also served as a conduit for Murphy to direct money to offshore bank accounts under the guise of advertising expenses. As a grand finale, Murphy did not even file income tax returns from 2001-2003, despite telling his bank that he had done so (and even producing a completed 2001 form) as part of a home refinancing application.”
“During the 10 months leading up to and including his trial, he employed a pattern of delay and misdirection that would make an NFL offensive coordinator jealous.”
“Information not available to the district court at the time, but highly revealing now, is Murphy’s sudden ability to quickly secure paid private counsel within weeks of his convictions.”
If you get the idea that Mr. Murphy lost his appeal, you’re correct. The ruling by Judge Easterbrook is quite revealing of someone who tried to evade justice, but lost.
Hat Tip: Decision of the Day
