Judge grants prosecutors access to some of guardian’s records

Federal prosecutors can obtain information on tax and criminal law classes taken by former Lackawanna County guardian ad litem Danielle Ross, but other documents related to extracurricular activities and disciplinary reports are off-limits, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Senior U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo agreed with prosecutors that some information they sought is relevant to the prosecution of Mrs. Ross on tax-evasion charges. But he limited the information they can obtain, agreeing with Mrs. Ross that a subpoena issued to Widener University School of Law was too broad.

The decision is among several pretrial rulings Judge Caputo issued Tuesday. He also granted Mrs. Ross’ request that prosecutors disclose any information they have that might impeach the credibility of their witnesses, but denied her request to learn the identity of the witnesses.

Ms. Ross, 36, served as a court-appointed advocate to represent children in parent custody disputes. A grand jury indicted her in February on charges she failed to disclose about $200,000 in parents’ payments from 2009 to 2010.

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Judge grants prosecutors access to some of guardian’s records

Colorado Lawyer Indicted on Charges of Defrauding the IRS

A Denver-area lawyer has been indicted for allegedly defrauding the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Denver said Monday.

According to the indictment, the lawyer, Eva Melissa Sugar, 59, worked with Financial Fortress Associates, an organization that the government said promoted and advised clients on schemes to avoid the payment of income and other federal taxes.

Sugar, of Aurora, is self-employed and specializes in tax and other legal matters in Denver.

The indictment accuses Sugar and others of conspiring to defraud the United States for “the purpose of impeding, impairing, obstructing, and defeating” the “lawful functions” of the IRS.

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Denver Area Lawyer Indicted on Charges She Defrauded the IRS

CA: Santa Monica Attorney Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

A Santa Monica attorney was sentenced Monday to three years in prison and ordered to pay more than $2 million in restitution for schemes to evade taxes and misappropriate client fees, according to the IRS, which investigated the case.

Robert M.L. Baker III, who owns a law firm on 20th Street and Wilshire Boulevard, also was sentenced to three years of supervised release following imprisonment.

Baker, 46, pleaded guilty in January to “willfully subscribing and filing false tax returns in a conspiracy to commit tax fraud,” said IRS Special Agent Felicia McCain.

According to the plea agreement, Baker admitted that he “along with others devised a scheme to misappropriate client fees and settlements in order to evade payment of his tax obligations,” McCain said.

Judge Otis D. Wright ordered Baker to pay $1,140,879 in restitution to the IRS and $916,000 in restitution to a victim.

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Santa Monica Attorney Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

KY Nursing Home Administrator Admits to Stealing From Patients

A former administrator at a Kentucky nursing home has pleaded guilty to multiple charges including: theft, exploitation of a vulnerable adult and tax fraud.

The nursing home administrator identified as James Tackett, confessed to stealing more than $300,000 from patients he was responsible for caring for at the Golden Years Rest Home (ironically a non-profit facility).

Authorities were tipped off to Mr. Tackett’s activities after several patients at the facility complained about not receiving economic stimulus checks from the federal government. The complaint was then passed on to the Social Security Administration and Department of Revenue who quickly learned that Mr. Teckett took it upon himself to take his patient’s funds.

This is not an isolated criminal venture for Mr. Tackett. In 2009, he pleaded guilty to physically abusing a patient at Golden Years Rest Home.

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Financial Abuse of the Elderly: Nursing Home Administrator Admits to Stealing From Patients

>Ward Hit With $18,000 Tax Bill

>An elderly man missing nearly $168,000 from his estate after he went into guardianship under Jeffrey Schend is liable for more than $18,000 in taxes and penalties after bills came due and went unpaid under Schend’s watch, records show.

The Wisconsin Department of Revenue last year issued two tax warrants on a 78-year-old man for unpaid state income taxes, interest and penalties. Schend was in control of his affairs when the bills came due. The man’s missing funds are part of the criminal case against Schend, who’s charged in Outagamie County Court with six felony theft counts and one count of misdemeanor theft.

Tax warrants are liens that allow the state to collect money from wages and assets.

Wisconsin statutes on guardianships specifically cite tax payments among the responsibilities of those appointed to handle an incompetent client’s finances.

Statutes say guardians are to pay legally enforceable debts of their clients, “including by filing tax returns and paying any taxes owed, from the ward’s estate and income and assets.”

“The guardian of estate of an individual would certainly have the fiduciary responsibility to attend to any tax-related issues on behalf of the ward,” said Aaron Janssen, an attorney for Outagamie County.

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Elderly Man Liable for $18,000 in Overdue Taxes From Money Missing After He Went into Guardianship Under Jeffrey Schend

Former Iowa Lawyer Indicted for Mail and Tax Fraud

A former Coralville attorney was indicted this week on three counts of filing false tax returns but a superseding indictment was filed Wednesday also charging him with 11 counts of mail fraud.

Dennis Bjorklund, 45, of Coralville, who lost his license in 2006 for an ethics violation, is charged with 11 counts of mail fraud and three counts of making and subscribing a false tax return, according to an indictment filed in U.S. Southern District Court.

Bjorklund, as a criminal defense attorney between Aug. 1, 2005 through Aug. 31, 2006, would encourage potential clients charged with drunken driving to make a voluntary charitable contribution to obtain a more “favorable resolution,” according to the indictment. The specific charity recommended was “Re-Adapt.”

Bjorklund on Sept. 2005 started an alleged non-profit organization, “Rehabiliative Enterprises for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and Training, also called Re-Adapt, according to the indictment.

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Former Coralville Lawyer Indicted for Mail and Tax Fraud

Judges Indicted in Fraud Scheme

Two former Pennsylvania judges were indicted yesterday on federal racketeering charges in connection with a scheme to place juvenile offenders in privately owned detention centers.

A federal grand jury in Harrisburg returned a 48-count indictment against former Luzerne County judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella Jr., who are accused of taking millions of dollars in kickbacks related to the construction of two youth detention facilities.

Conahan and Ciavarella had pleaded guilty in February to honest services fraud and tax evasion in a deal with prosecutors that called for a sentence of 87 months in prison, far below federal guidelines.

But the deal was rejected last month by Senior US District Judge Edward M. Kosik, who said the two hadn’t fully accepted responsibility for the crimes, and the former judges switched their pleas to not guilty.

Yesterday’s indictment marked a dramatic escalation in the government’s pursuit of the disgraced judges. The charges include racketeering, fraud, money laundering, extortion, bribery, and federal tax violations and could bring decades in prison. The indictment also seeks the forfeiture of at least $2.8 million, “which is alleged to be the proceeds of the charged criminal activity,’’ according to a news release issued by the US attorney’s office in Harrisburg.

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Ex-PA Judges Endicted in Fraud Scheme

See also:
Judges Plead Guilty

Class Action Against Judges

When Judges Stain Our Kids

Kickback Scheme Judges Sued

Alleged Public Corruption