Just Incompetent
The Associate Press reports: Mistake means tax cheat can keep $100 million
Poorly written Justice Department documents cost the federal government more than $100 million in what was supposed to have been the crowning moment of the biggest tax prosecution ever.
Walter Anderson, the telecommunications entrepreneur who admitted hiding hundreds of millions of dollars from the IRS and District of Columbia tax collectors, was sentenced Tuesday to nine years in prison and ordered to repay about $23 million to the city.
But U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman said he couldn’t order Anderson to repay the federal government $100 million to $175 million because the Justice Department’s binding plea agreement with Anderson listed the wrong statute.
This is a rookie mistake. They have no one at the Justice Department who verifies the citations in plea agreements? One hundred million United States dollars is real money, not a parking fine, and no one bothered to check on the statutes that were cited? The worst government in US history.
3 comments
Someone commented that they can bring a civil suit that requires restitution, and that it might be much easier to collect that way.
Oh, but of course, mes amis — for if this embezzling douchebag had been a DEMOCRAT, THEN he would have “committed a CRIME”!!! Wis ze republicunts, it is but a mere “error”!
And what about that motherfucker at the Smithsonian — when’s somebody going to put HIS ass in the docks for a real-life CRIMINAL TRIAL?!??! Or is Dumbya going to decree that he, too, is above the law, as his daddy made campaign contributions directly to Herr Cheney? I just loooooooooove the way that they can just “DECIDE” (he IS Teh Decider, is he not?) that the rule of law only applies to everybody BUT THEM. As in, all of you working-class and poor mofos who don’t have connections to the Undisclosed Bunker in Wyoming!
This country is depressing me to the point that I wonder if it’s even worth attempting to save it anymore.
I saw that argument, Scorpio, and can picture the defense arguments based on the fact that the government has accepted a plea agreement. Somehow I don’t think another court proceeding with an uncertain end is a better solution than including the repayment in a plea agreement. The criminal courts are quite effective in collecting money, because if you fail to make restitution you go to prison rather than receiving a contempt citation. I know people who could paper the average house with civil judgments that never netted a dime.
What in hell is the head of the Smithsonian doing making more than twice as much money as the President. Who the hell does he think he is, an SEC football coach?
The rich are different – they have a lot more money and believe they deserve it. The jerk doesn’t think he did anything wrong, but the Smithsonian just lost my Mother’s support, which includes subscriptions to their magazines for her grandchildren and great grandchildren.