USA v COHEN
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today released an opinion in USA v COHEN, No. 06-10145, a criminal appeal. The panel consisted of Sidney R. Thomas, Richard C. Tallman, and Sandra S. Ikuta, Circuit Judges.
TALLMAN, Circuit Judge:
These consolidated appeals follow the convictions and sentences of a well-known recidivist tax protestor, Irwin Schiff, and two of his acolytes, Cynthia Neun and Lawrence Cohen. After Schiff’s last release from prison in 1991 for income tax evasion, he opened a store in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he sold books, audio tapes, videos and instructional packages, many created by him, explaining how to “legally stop paying income taxes.” Cohen and Neun worked at the store, and, together with Schiff, they provided “consultation services” to clients who wished to avoid paying federal income taxes. They encouraged their clients to file “zero returns,” federal individual income tax returns containing a zero on every line related to income and expenses, and, in most cases, seeking. . .