No, this isn't about the false rape charges filed against the Duke lacrosse players because they were rich, white guys. This is a story about the overzealousness of the IRS in prosecuting some people for tax evasion.
The story comes from law.com, and concerns the fight a couple of married lawyers had with the IRS.
Two weeks before tax day, married lawyers Alan and Jean Brown were signing their names to the back of a familiar-looking green and yellow U.S. Treasury Department check that most Americans associate with a tax refund.
The check the San Antonio couple endorsed on March 30 was an Internal Revenue Service refund of sorts -- but not in the traditional sense.
The $1.34 million check was the result of a settlement between the Browns and the government in Alan Brown, et al. v. United States, a Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) suit the couple filed three years ago in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.
The couple filed the civil suit after they were caught up in a complicated tax prosecution in which Alan Brown, a well-known criminal defense attorney with Brown & Norton, and Jean Brown, a family law solo, allege they were targeted by overzealous Internal Revenue Service agents, which led to the Browns being indicted in 2003 by a federal grand jury in Austin, Texas, for allegedly filing false personal tax returns between 1994 and 1997.
In their first amended complaint in their civil suit, the Browns alleged, among other things, that IRS agents had authorized a warrantless search of their offices, records and home that was without probable cause; that the defendants and/or other "investigative or law enforcement officers" used false or misleading evidence to seek a search warrant, justify the grand jury investigation, and the indictments; and that the government, "through its 'investigative or law enforcement officers,' maliciously prosecuted Alan Brown through and including a lengthy criminal trial without probable cause, which proximately caused plaintiffs to suffer significant damages."
The Browns further alleged in a response pleading that IRS agents made "material misrepresentations and omissions to their supervisors, prosecutors, and a grand jury."
After a five-week trial before U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel of Austin in United States v. Alan Brown, a jury acquitted Alan Brown in 2005. The government subsequently dismissed the indictment against Jean Brown.
While the settlement check that resulted from their civil suit will just about cover the Browns' legal expenses in their criminal tangle with the government, the couple says the money represents something more important -- that the fight with the government finally is over.
The details of the case are laid out in the article, so I won't go into them. But it is both fascinating and terrifying that once the IRS decides to go after you, it can be nearly impossible to get them off your back. This couple spent years defending themselves, lost clients, and paid huge legal fees to defend themselves. The abuse of power by the IRS is disgusting. Maybe the Democrats should be spending their time investigating this...since they can't get any legislaton passed.
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