April 24, 2024
Prosecutors and defense attorneys in a tax fraud trial against two lawyers and an insurance agent traded final barbs Wednesday in a North Carolina courtroom before sending the jury to deliberate, with the defendants again defending the tax plan at the center of the government's case and accusing prosecutors of making up facts.
April 17, 2024
Emotions ran high Wednesday in a North Carolina federal courtroom as former clients unwittingly roped into an alleged tax fraud scheme took the stand, one of whom was openly exasperated at learning he'd been misled by the two attorneys and an insurance agent who are on trial.
April 16, 2024
Two St. Louis attorneys and a North Carolina insurance agent on Tuesday tried to poke holes in an undercover IRS agent's investigation of what the government has characterized as a criminal tax avoidance scheme, which defense counsel sought to paint for the jury as a legal interpretation of federal tax law.
April 15, 2024
A North Carolina federal jury on Monday heard a series of secret recordings at the start of a tax fraud trial in which an insurance agent and a St. Louis attorney unwittingly pitched an undercover IRS agent on a way to decrease taxable income — or what the government characterized as a "financial fantasy."
April 10, 2024
Federal prosecutors trying an attorney next week on charges he orchestrated a tax fraud scheme that spanned seven states will be allowed to play for the jury an audio recording made by an undercover agent, a North Carolina federal judge ruled.
April 08, 2024
A St. Louis attorney lost a last-minute attempt to escape his upcoming tax fraud trial based on claims that the prosecution was never properly authorized, with a North Carolina federal judge finding that the government did mislead the court but nonetheless had the right stamp of approval.
April 04, 2024
A North Carolina federal judge on Thursday seemed reluctant to limit certain evidence against two attorneys and an insurance agent in their upcoming tax fraud trial, saying some of it seemed pertinent to the government's quest to prove intent but suspected other information might be construed by jurors as "petty."
April 02, 2024
Federal prosecutors have asked a North Carolina district court to permit tangential evidence in a tax fraud trial, saying that the evidence is "inextricably intertwined with the charged conduct" of two St. Louis attorneys and a North Carolina insurance agent.
March 27, 2024
Two St. Louis attorneys and a North Carolina insurance agent can't fall back on advice-of-counsel defenses during their upcoming tax fraud trial after a federal judge found that they had failed to follow court orders requiring them to hand over information about the advice they sought.
March 15, 2024
Two St. Louis attorneys and a North Carolina insurance agent staring down criminal tax charges in North Carolina federal court said the government can't prevent them from relying on advice-of-counsel defenses at their upcoming trial, arguing they've handed over all the information prosecutors need to prepare.