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Anti-tax Author Faces Fraud ChargesA federal grand jury indicted anti-tax author Irwin Schiff March 24 on charges of tax evasion and assisting in the preparation of fraudulent tax returns. Schiff, the author of the 1990 book The Federal Mafia: How It Illegally Imposes and Unlawfully Collects Federal Income Taxes, faces a maximum sentence of 43 years in prison and $3.25 million in fines, the Associated Press reported March 24. He has faced legal challenges since February 2003 when the Internal Revenue Service raided his Las Vegas bookstore, Freedom Books. The U.S. Appeals Court for the Ninth Circuit in September granted Schiff, 76, a stay against an injunction ordered by a Las Vegas district judge to stop selling his book and turn over a list of all his customers since 1999. The American Library Association’s Freedom to Read Foundation joined the American Civil Liberties Union and three other free speech groups last May in a friend-of-the-court brief that opposed any restraining order. An attorney for Schiff had argued in the appellate court that his anti-tax beliefs were protected under the First Amendment, according to the February 11 New York Times. In district court in Las Vegas March 25, Schiff’s lawyer Louis Palazzo contended that his client was delusional and entitled to a full trial, rather than the summary judgment that the Department of Justice has requested. But the Associated Press reported March 25 that prosecutor Henry Darmstadter said Schiff was “perfectly sane” and merely “addicted to selling his book.” Schiff and two associates are scheduled for arraignment in district court April 14. Posted April 2, 2004. |
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