Tax cheat saves $100+M through gov't "typo" (AP/CNN)

Judge can't fix government's $100 million boo-boo

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.
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more: http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/06/15/big.mistake.ap/index.html

DOJ -- heckkuva job, Gonzo.

:wtf:

It's just that it didn't go to the gov't.

it IS possible some nitwit typed one digit wrong. The BIG problem I see is that those filings are ALWAYS reviewed by several peers before they are finally filed, so is EVEYRYBODY blind in the DOJ? For God sake, typos happen all the damn time, but they're SUPPOSED to be caught!!!!

Must be all those superstars they hired from Regent!

And they make fewer typos.

Here's an article about Walter Anderson, painting the man as an oppressed victim of an "incredibly savage hatchet job" by the government.

From Lew Rockwell's site.

BTW, I got this from a cached page from Google. The original is gone.

For your enlightenment:



http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:zI6hQpMqmC8J:www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/olson1.html+Walter+Anderson+contributor+-inglis+telecom&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=ca

I don't know what to make of it.

love Ron Paul. Anti war but anti everything else too.

i.e. he didn't want to cheat, but the gov't FORCED him to! He HAD to do it! And we know without question that his money was HONESTLY earned -- it couldn't be otherwise!

Yes, you're right -- knee-jerk libertarian.

Telecom Mogul Guilty of Tax Scam
Defendant Admits To $365 Million In Hidden Income

By Eric M. Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 9, 2006; Page B01

A former telecommunications tycoon accused by prosecutors of being the biggest tax cheat in U.S. history pleaded guilty yesterday in a deal that calls for him to serve no more than 10 years in prison.

Walter C. Anderson, a Washington-based businessman who amassed a fortune during the tech boom of the 1980s and 1990s, admitted to hiding $365 million in income by using aliases, shell companies, offshore tax havens, secret accounts and drop boxes in the Netherlands. He was so wealthy that he talked at one point about leasing the Russian space station Mir -- all the while dodging his taxes, officials said.

Prosecutors said Anderson avoided paying $200 million in taxes from 1995 through 1999 in what they say is the largest personal income tax evasion case brought in the United States. As part of his plea deal, Anderson agreed that the court could order restitution. But how much the government can collect is a big question: The onetime mogul, 52, who had a multimillion-dollar art collection and other trappings of success, has filed for bankruptcy.

Anderson pleaded guilty at the federal courthouse in Washington to three felony charges -- two for evading federal taxes and one for defrauding the D.C. government with a phony tax return. Among other things, Anderson admitted earning more than $126 million in 1998, a year that he claimed an income of $67,939 on his federal tax return. He paid $495 in taxes that year, authorities said.
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more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/08/AR2006090801126.html

I'm trying to remember the last time I paid as little as $495 in taxes ...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Fucking stupidest government EVER.

Oh and, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!