Irwin Schiff convicted of tax evasion (Page 1 of 4)

Irwin Schiff Railroaded Right to Slammer by Two-Bit Federal Judge Running Kanagaroo Las Vegas Court
The 77-year-old tax protestor being held without bond and in chains after being convicted on 14 counts, including conspiracy and income tax evasion. Trial observers say court proceedings looked like an episode of the "Three Stooges" with "Moe, Curly and Larry" prosecuting the case.
6 Nov 2005

By Greg Szymanski

Hurry! Hurry! Read all about it!

Public enemy No. 1 Irwin Schiff is in chains and being held without bond as a flight risk in the Las Vegas City Jail, as the 77-year-old tax crook was recently convicted last week on 14 counts of income tax evasion.

Now that’s the bogus headline the government wants America to read and believe about the freedom-fighting tax guru who claims income taxes have been illegally collected for years.

But the real criminals in this unfortunate case are those professing to uphold justice, being “Moe, Curly and Larry,   the nicknames given to the Schiff prosecution team, as well as the two-bit, crooked card-dealing Las Vegas federal judge named Kent Dawson, who essentially railroaded Schiff right to the slammer.

Now that’s a bold statement, one these legal bozos aren’t used to hearing and one not usually associated with so-called “officers of the court. 

But if the shoe fits, wear it.

And in this case the “judicial shoes   are a perfect fit for nothing less than a “judicial fix   in order to keep the government charade going that income taxes are legal and constitutional.

For lack of a better explanation and without presenting a 500 page legal argument, the constitutionality and legality of the income tax law is an outright lie and nothing but a legal fantasy, a legal myth being perpetuated by every federal judge, prosecutor and IRS agent in the land determined in keeping the “cash cow   safely bedded down in Uncle Sam’s barn.

Anyone with half a brain who reads the constitution and its related tax cases has really no choice but to come to the same conclusion, the undisputable conclusion that the collection of income taxes is unconstitutional.

But what’s right, just and fair and, for that matter constitutional, means nothing when it comes to disrupting the government’s cash flow. And Schiff is just another example in the long line of people abused, used and thrown to the dogs by a group of judicial rats, lacking any type of integrity, honor or sense of fair play.

“The judge in Irwin’s case was a complete and utter tyrant,   said Mike Golden, a close friend of Schiff who sat by his side every day through out the two-month trial. “Dawson ought to be thrown off the bench and to say that Irwin was railroaded was an understatement.

“I watched and listened to the entire proceeding and there were many in the courtroom whose jaws were dropping by the conduct of the so-called. He made no bones about it that he didn’t like Irwin, having the audacity in open court on the third or fourth day to even say and I quote: ‘The law has nothing to do with the trial. 

“Behind closed doors Dawson even told Irwin that if he tries to introduce law into his court, every time he does it he’ll get one day in jail. I could see the judge counting the days while Irwin talked without the jury knowing and I think even if he wasn’t convicted he would have spent at least six years in jail just on contempt charges..

“It was nothing less than a judicial joke and I even nicknamed the prosecutors, who looked like the Three Stooges, Moe, Curly and Larry. I was kicked out of court several times for making comments, but when they got word of their nicknames, I even heard them call each other the names of the Stooges. 

Despite the intermittent levity, the Schiff federal trial from a legal prospective became a kangaroo court, according to Golden, other legal observers and Schiff’s new appellate attorney, Mike Nash of Chicago.

Nash, an attorney with 30 years appellate experience, came on the scene several days ago as Schiff finally became convinced outside legal help may be his only chance of survival and not dying in jail in the face of what he now fully understands is a corrupt system bent on putting him away for life.

“Mike saw Irwin just a couple of days ago and is trying to keep his spirits up and is confident the trial errors in this case will eventually set Irwin free,   said Golden, adding that when he first visited Schiff in jail last week he was kept in chains and deprived of adequate blanketing in a cold and damp jail cell. “I have been a paramedic and let me tell you Irwin looked like he was on his last legs. While the other prisoners were walking without cuffs, here we have a 77-year-old man held without and as a flight risk and still kept in manacles. 

“He was given no blankets and when I saw him, he damn near fell off the chair he was sitting because he was so cold and weak. 

Also commenting on the unfairness of the Schiff conviction was Phil Hart, a Republican State Legislator from Idaho, who has written an extensive book called “Constitutional Income   that presents a solid legal argument that the income tax laws are an unjust tax as well as blatantly unconstitutional.

“The government just doesn’t want to listen to the arguments and Irwin’s case is a prime example,   said Hart this week from his Idaho office, adding his research about income taxes dates all the way back to the Magna Carta. “Until Americans are educated about their own constitutional in relation to the income tax laws and until they want to change things as they are today, the government will continue to unfairly tax its citizens.

“The only way to change things is to get enough political momentum and people behind the unconstitutional nature of the income tax laws. 

Despite arguments made by people like Schiff and Rep. Hart, the attorneys for the Justice Department’s tax Division had a different take on the Schiff prosecution.

“People who evade their tax obligations, or encourage or enable others to do so, are cheating all law-abiding taxpayers,   said Eileen O’Connor, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Tax Division, adding this marks the third time Schiff, who served as his own attorney during the five-week trial, has been convicted of tax-related offenses.

“Paying taxes is the price of citizenship. After three times, I would hope that even Schiff realizes that he has struck out," said Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Mark Everson.

Schiff, who will be sentenced in January 20, faces a maximum term of 43 years in prison and $3.25 million in fines for charges including income tax evasion and filing false tax returns for the years 1997 through 2002.

Cynthia Neun, 52, a co-defendant, faces up to 50 years and $3.3 million in fines, convicted on 15 counts, including conspiracy, tax evasion, aiding in the filing of fraudulent tax returns.

A third co-defendant, Lawrence Cohen, 65, was found guilty of one count of aiding in the filing of fraudulent tax returns and acquitted on three other counts of the same charge, and of conspiracy.

For years, Schiff has been holding tax seminars and selling books such as "The Federal Mafia: How the Government Illegally Imposes and Unlawfully Collects Income Taxes" and “The Great Income Tax Hoax: Why You Can Immediately Stop Paying This Illegally Enforced Tax. 

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