Another Anderson Ark conviction

[Prof]

From today's San Antonio Express News at http://www.mysanantonio.com under other local news:

By Guillermo Contreras - Express-News

A jury on Friday acquitted a former San Antonio doctor and his wife of conspiracy to evade taxes, but convicted them on one charge of filing a false tax return.

Daniel Luczkow and his wife, Mary, a nurse who is a San Antonio native, worked together in the emergency room at Baptist Health System in the late 1990s before moving to Massachusetts. They were cast by the government as willing participants in a tax-evasion scheme perpetrated by Anderson Ark & Associates, a Washington-based company that marketed tax-reduction strategies. The government alleged the couple hid $656,000 from the IRS using fraudulent investment schemes marketed by Anderson.

The Luczkows were among 240 people drawn in to Anderson's so-called “complex business organizations,” which used fake joint ventures, sham accounts and fraudulent consulting agreements that actually turned out to be nothing more than vehicles to hide money from the IRS.

Justice Department lawyer Tracy Gostyla told jurors the Luczkows earned $1 million from 1997 to 2000, but paid only $1,721 in taxes.

Anderson Ark's principals were prosecuted and jailed after a three-year IRS investigation that uncovered illegal offshore tax havens and methods the company used to launder clients' money. The Luczkows were charged with conspiring with each other and with Anderson to negate their own tax liability, but the jury found them not guilty of the conspiracy count.

Besides conspiracy, the Luczkows were charged with knowingly submitting false tax returns for the years 1997-2000. Jurors acquitted them of the charges pertaining to three years, but agreed after deliberating a day and a half that the Luczkows had knowingly filed a false tax return for 2000.

That count charged the Luczkows with falsely claiming a loss of $166,824 from two Anderson business or investment programs that turned out to be shams. The charge also alleged the Luczkows falsely claimed neither of them had an interest or signatory authority over a financial account in a foreign country, when they actually had an account in Costa Rica that allowed them to access their money in the United States with a debit card.

In 2001, IRS agents investigating Anderson served Daniel Luczkow with a grand jury subpoena, but rather than cooperate, the Luczkows filed their tax return on the advice of their preparer, who was with Anderson, according to testimony and interviews conducted by the San Antonio Express-News.

One of the vehicles involved a purported tax program called “Tax Magic,” but Gostyla and another prosecutor, Bill Harris, told jurors in closing arguments that the names of entities or products mattered little in the scheme.

“He didn't care what they called it,” Harris said of Daniel Luczkow. “It was just a cover story.”

Attorney Van Hilley, who with lawyer Charles Muller defended the Luczkows, said the couple was pleased with the verdicts of not guilty, but saddened that they were found guilty of filing a false tax return. The lawyers argued that the Luczkows were conned by Anderson into believing the programs were legitimate. They have since paid what taxes they owed, Hilley said.

The lawyers plan to file motions for acquittal or request a new trial, Hilley said.

The IRS, meanwhile, said it will go after people who cheat on their taxes.

“Individuals who create fictitious entities and subsequently claim false deductions for those entities are engaging in criminal activity,” Eileen Mayer, chief of the IRS' criminal investigations, said in a statement. “Those who create or participate in financial schemes to willfully evade the payments of their correct tax liability will be held accountable.”

The maximum penalty for filing a false tax return is three years in prison. Barring any appeals, sentencing may take place in the spring.

[Demosthenes]

The maximum penalty for filing a false tax return is three years in prison. Barring any appeals, sentencing may take place in the spring.

They can't appeal until after sentencing occurs.

[Prof]

The maximum penalty for filing a false tax return is three years in prison. Barring any appeals, sentencing may take place in the spring.

They can't appeal until after sentencing occurs.

The reference should be to post-trial motions, including JNOV, MNT, etc.

Note that the lawyer, Van Hilley (long time acquantance; I'd hire him for ME), pointed out that the defendants had long since paid all taxes due. Just think of the money and prison time they' have saved if they had just followed the true path of enlightenment, "CTC." "Oh, nevermind."

[jcolvin2]

Note that the lawyer, Van Hilley (long time acquantance; I'd hire him for ME), pointed out that the defendants had long since paid all taxes due. Just think of the money and prison time they' have saved if they had just followed the true path of enlightenment, "CTC." "Oh, nevermind."

Chad Mueller is also highly regarded. He would certainly be on the short list if I needed a criminal tax defense attorney in the Lone Star state.

[Prof]

Note that the lawyer, Van Hilley (long time acquantance; I'd hire him for ME), pointed out that the defendants had long since paid all taxes due. Just think of the money and prison time they' have saved if they had just followed the true path of enlightenment, "CTC." "Oh, nevermind."

Chad Mueller is also highly regarded. He would certainly be on the short list if I needed a criminal tax defense attorney in the Lone Star state.

Should have noted that as well. Both are really quite good.

[ASITStands]

In another thread there's a question about wins/losses for Larry Becraft.

What can you tell us in that regard for the attorneys here? Not heard their names before.

[Prof]

In another thread there's a question about wins/losses for Larry Becraft.

What can you tell us in that regard for the attorneys here? Not heard their names before.

Van is a prominent local (San Antonio) criminal defense lawyer. He does a good bit of "white collar" work. The firm, Goldstein, Goldstein, & Hilley is very highly regarded for its sophistication and the quality of the lawyers. This is not a "patriot" firm.

Muller is at the San Antonio office of Strasburger & Price (and was at the old Matthews firm for years before that). He is a tax lawyer that does a lot of tax-related trial work and is also very highly regarded professionally. LIke Van, he is not a "tax-honesty" lawyer. Both are very much mainstream professionals.