Don Fort
Chief Business Officer, IVIX. Former Chief, IRS Criminal Investigation. Director Of Investigations at Kostelanetz LLP.
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Great article by Sandra R. Brown and Philipp Behrendt, LL.M. (USC)! Here is some additional context to the Al Capone case for all who are interested.While there are many people who played a role in the federal conviction of Al Capone for tax crimes, I’d be hesitant to put the lion’s share of credit at the feet of anyone other than the leadership and brave special agents in IRS Criminal Investigation. As IRS’ own history reports and as was celebrated during the 100thanniversary of #IRSCI: There are many stories about who brought down Al Capone and the other gangsters. Hollywood would have you believe Elliot Ness and his band of prohibition agents, the so-called “Untouchables” were the ones who brought Al Capone down. But the truth is it was the Special Agents from the IRS Intelligence Unit who got the job done. The real untouchables were Elmer Irey who led the organization, Frank Wilson the determined case agent, and Mike Malone the IRS undercover agent who lived among Al Capone and his men for three years collecting and transmitting valuable information about the gangster and his activities.Kelly Phillips Erb puts out a piece in Forbes on the anniversary of Capone’s conviction each year. Her description of the case is recapped here: https://lnkd.in/gP9n9mtKDuring this time, the feds were quietly building a case against Capone. Despite his public and extravagant lifestyle, Capone never filed a federal income tax return, claiming that he had no taxable income. IRS Special Agent Frank Wilson and the “T-Men” followed the money, gathering evidence that Capone had made millions of dollars on income that was never taxed. It paid off: Capone was indicted on 22 counts of federal income tax evasion. He wasn’t alone: his brother, Ralph, Jake “Greasy Thumb” Guzik, Frank Nitti and others were also charged. For more information on the Capone case and other work by IRS Criminal Investigation, I encourage you to visitwww.mobmuseum.orgThe Mob Museum, the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement or better yet, visit the museum in person! For even more information, and a great follow on LinkedIn, follow former IRS-CI Special Agent Paul Camacho, for some of the more fascinating and lesser-known significant details about IRS-CI history.
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Charlie Middleton
International Tax Lawyer / Whistleblower Advocate / Writer
1y
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I can’t fathom why they don’t focus on what works: whistleblowers. Finding fraud “with calculators” is difficult. It’s much easier to find cheating when someone you where it is. Every single even of sizable cheating involves minions: accountants, lawyers, bookkeepers… Incentivize the minions to come forward with awards (that the IRS actually pays on time) and tax cheating will have nowhere to hide. Saying that they are going to go after big cheaters with more agents and computers isn’t bold. It’s more of the same.
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J. Scott Broome
Founder and Owner at J. Scott Broome & Associates Co., LPA
1y
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Honestly, In my 33+ years of experience, my observation is that the really wealthy generally pay their taxes, $1,000,000 + quarterly ES payments are usually a sign of pretty good compliance. I would say that, historically, the enforcement by CI, on a number of cases per year metric, pretty heavily favored tax returns showing $400,000 or less of income. Usually, the data-driven analytics has, for what seems like forever, consisted of comparing income claimed on a return with the average income for the ZIP code of residence, house value, # of children, make/model of cars and whether any CTRs or SARs had been filed. I agree with C. Middleton that whistleblowers work, but IRS is far to stingy with Whistleblower rewards for that program to grow. I do feel that the inability to solve low level issues at lower levels is an impediment to all enforcement and compliance. Also QRP enforcement gums up the works something fierce. I also think that Congress should enact an interest sensitive benefit to those who enter into Installment Agreements and live up to them which benefit would be lost if they fail to live up to the agreement, like the old interest sensitive penalties that were supposed to encourage early resolution.
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Darlene Frank
Retired after 40+ years in communications
1y
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Great IRS history!
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Don Fort
Chief Business Officer, IVIX. Former Chief, IRS Criminal Investigation. Director Of Investigations at Kostelanetz LLP.
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My friend and colleague Rod J. Rosenstein recently teed up a very thoughtful conversation in Tax Notes in an article titled “Federal Criminal Tax Enforcement Falls to Record Low.” In Rod’s former role as acting deputy attorney general and my former role as the chief of IRS Criminal Investigation, we had access to a wealth of statistics. Statistics, however, only tell part of the story and only get at one part of the solution.My article, "There’s More to Criminal Tax Prosecution Decline Than the Numbers" appears in theJune 24thissue of Tax Notes Federal and addresses some of arguments Rod and others make with regard to these trends.The letter can be viewed here https://lnkd.in/g_aMStKNor in the attached. Thank you to Tax Notes Federal Editor in Chief, Ariel Greenblumfor publishing this piece.#tax
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Don Fort
Chief Business Officer, IVIX. Former Chief, IRS Criminal Investigation. Director Of Investigations at Kostelanetz LLP.
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I'm honored to be moderating a panel next week at the NYU Tax Controversy Forum with critical updates in the world of Criminal Tax Enforcement. Hear from Government experts IRS Criminal Investigation Chief Guy Ficco and AUSA Caryn Finley. Jeremy Temkin and Jason B. Freeman will provide important updates from the practitioner perspective. Please join us, Thursday, June 27th at 9:45 a.m.
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Don Fort
Chief Business Officer, IVIX. Former Chief, IRS Criminal Investigation. Director Of Investigations at Kostelanetz LLP.
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It was great to see my friend Charles Rettig. Kudos to the Federation of Tax Administrators for inviting the former IRS Commissioner to address the FTA attendees. There were many great leadership lessons in his keynote, these are a few of favorites: 👉 The importance of the partnership between the Internal Revenue Service and the States.👉 "You have to connect with your employees to show them that we are stronger together"👉 "No one is more or less important than another member of the team"👉 "Make a Difference!" in your professional life AND your personal lifeHis pride of all Internal Revenue Service and State tax employees was inspiring...
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Don Fort
Chief Business Officer, IVIX. Former Chief, IRS Criminal Investigation. Director Of Investigations at Kostelanetz LLP.
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Looking forward to a great panel tomorrow!
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Don Fort
Chief Business Officer, IVIX. Former Chief, IRS Criminal Investigation. Director Of Investigations at Kostelanetz LLP.
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This is going to be a great conversation. Jarod Koopman is one of the foremost experts in US Law Enforcement on #Cryptocurrency and he's going to share details on how IRS Criminal Investigation has solved most of the largest crypto cases of the last 7-8 years, as well as other take-aways. Register below!
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Don Fort
Chief Business Officer, IVIX. Former Chief, IRS Criminal Investigation. Director Of Investigations at Kostelanetz LLP.
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Thanks John Byrne and AML RightSource for hosting this great webinar. I enjoyed spending time with John and IRS Criminal Investigation Chief Guy Ficco - great conversation and updates on some extremely relevant topics for the #AML and law enforcement community.
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Don Fort
Chief Business Officer, IVIX. Former Chief, IRS Criminal Investigation. Director Of Investigations at Kostelanetz LLP.
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I've been attending the NYU Tax Controversy Forum for many years, both with the Government and after. The collection of speakers is top notch, the discussions are incredibly relevant and panels are fantastic! Hope to see you there in late June.
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Don Fort
Chief Business Officer, IVIX. Former Chief, IRS Criminal Investigation. Director Of Investigations at Kostelanetz LLP.
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This promises to be a great event and I'm looking forward to my discussion with IRS Criminal Investigation Chief Guy Ficco. There's so much going on at the IRS right now, you don't want to miss this webinar. Thanks to AML RightSource hosting and John Byrne for moderating.Don't forget to register for this event!
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Don Fort
Chief Business Officer, IVIX. Former Chief, IRS Criminal Investigation. Director Of Investigations at Kostelanetz LLP.
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How investment firms shield the ultrawealthy from the IRS https://www.icij.orgA dirty little secret at the Internal Revenue Service is just how hard K-1 forms make it for the service to find real money held by taxpayers. The #IRS is now hiring the kinds of data scientists and thought leaders after decades of neglected budgets to focus on these and other issues. I was happy to join former colleagues Charles Rettig, Natasha Sarin, Michael Desmond, Damon Rowe and Monte A. Jackel to provide some comments for Spencer Woodman's article for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). #tax
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