“There is a sort of man who pays no attention to his good actions, but is tormented by his bad ones. This is the type that most often writes about himself.” Somerset... Read more
Bloomberg Article on the Intrigue in the Smith NPA (Related to Brockman Indictment) I have written previously about Robert Smith’s unusual nonprosecution agreement. I say unusual because his misconduct was sustained and blatant over many years. Based on my experience and attention to the federal tax crime universe over the years, it was unusual because, even with an agreement to cooperate, a plea of guilty to some serious tax crime (often conspiracy and/or tax evasion) would be required for the type of conduct involved.
Here's a reason not everyone loves citizen engagement
As soon as the subject appears on the
horizon, a tangled web of defensive arguments and anecdotes will accumulate
to obscure it.
MAKE BIG TECH PAY ROYALTIES TO USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA: Here’s a modest proposal for taming the social media giants.
Phil Lord (McGill), Cultivating Humility:
This article focusses on the role of humility in the law school. It argues in favor of a culture where humility is consciously cultivated in law students. Section I considers on the grading curve, a quintessentially North American attribute of almost all law schools. It analyses and theories the curve and its effect in cultivating humility. It suggests that, while the curve can have a humbling effect, this effect is felt irregularly among law students and comes with significant and often discounted consequences. This article argues that a model where humility is more consciously cultivated could minimize these consequences
Kim Brooks (Dalhousie University, Schulich School of Law), Portrait of a Transplant Artist:
This article explores the process of norm migration through the study of one tax expert, Victor Thuronyi. It situates the literature on the role of experts in tax norm migration and identifies core themes and gaps in the tax transplant literature; explores five themes, connected to the literature on the role of tax experts and tax transplants, that arise from a study of Victor Thuronyi’s contributions to tax transplantation; and concludes with some reflections on the benefits and challenges of having highly specialized, non-insider tax experts engaged in the exercise of drafting tax laws. ...
Blake made it through Western Europe undiscovered and crossed the Iron Curtain into East Berlin.
He spent the rest of his life in the Soviet Union and then Russia, where he was feted as a hero.
Reflecting on his life in an interview with Reuters in Moscow in 1991, Blake said he had believed the world was on the eve of communism.
"It was an ideal which, if it could have been achieved, would have been well worth it," he said.
"I thought it could be, and I did what I could to help it, to build such a society. It has not proved possible.
Third Circuit Case Discussing Difference Between Willfully Element for Tax Crimes (Cheek Willfulness) and for General Crimes with Willfully Element
In United States v. Smukler, ___ F.3d ___. 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 2072 (3d Cir. 1/26/21), Ct here; GS here, a nontax case, the Court wrestled with the criminal statutory element that the defendant have acted "willfully." Readers of this blog will recall that Title 26’s tax crimes generally required that the defendant act willfully. Cheek v. United States, 498 U.S. 192, 201 (1991); see also Ratzlaf v. United States, 510 U.S. 135 (1994). (The Smukler Court calls this the Cheek-Ratzlaf standard, but I shorten it here to the Cheek standard.) Cheek interpreted willfully for tax crimes to be intentional violation of a known legal duty. Stated otherwise, the defendant must know that he is violating the law to act and, as a corollary, ignorance of the law is an excuse (contrary to the general requirement for crimes, even those with a willfully element, that ignorance of the law is no excuse). Smukler was charged and convicted of a mélange of campaign finance violations, conspiracy with respect to them, filing and causing the filing of FEC reports. (See Slip Op. 11 n6.) Some of these required that the defendant act willfully.
Service NSW struggling to contact thousands of cyber attack victims
Thousands of Service NSW customers whose information was compromised during a cyber attack in March 2020 are still unaware of it.
Diplomat’s wife accused of killing British teen was working for US intelligence, lawyer testifiesStars and Stripes. Oh. On what?