This allegation that “Strathfield Councillors Sharangan Maheswaran and/or Karen Pensabene” tried to blackmail the mayor is just one of the explosive allegations that the Independent Commission Against Corruption will examine at its forthcoming inquiry, codenamed Operation Rosny.This, however, was not Maheswaran’s only link to the dark arts of political persuasion which ICAC will examine. Not only did the former Strathfield councillor have links to fugitive property developer Jean Nassif, he was also close to several of the Liberal powerbrokers who allegedly did Nassif’s bidding by branch-stacking the Hills Shire Council to install people who would be more amenable to approving Nassif’s questionable developments.
Private eyes, shakedowns and Godfather IV: The council allegations at the heart of ICAC inquiry
DOJ Tax is Hiring
Trevor Sikes, “DOJ Seeks More Tax Attorneys as Caseload Increases” (Tax Notes, June 29, 2026):
The Justice Department’s Tax Litigation Branch of the Civil Division is looking to bolster its workforce following a significant exodus of attorneys and an increased caseload, according to a government official.
“During the last couple of years, we’ve lost some significant amount of staff,” Joshua Wu, deputy assistant attorney general for the Tax Litigation Branch, said June 26 at a conference sponsored by the New York University School of Professional Studies.
Staffing has decreased about 30 to 40 percent since last year, while the Tax Litigation Branch caseload has continued to increase, according to Wu. The Civil Division has 4,413 pending tax trial matters — an increase of 138 from last year — and 373 appellate tax cases, which is 56 more than last year, he said.
The Tax Adviser: IRS outlines AI risks, Circular 230 duties for tax practitioners
Martha Waggoner (The Tax Adviser): IRS outlines AI risks, Circular 230 duties for tax practitioners:
The IRS Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) issued guidance outlining how existing Treasury Circular 230 rules apply to tax practitioners’ use of artificial intelligence (AI), emphasizing that long-standing duties such as due diligence, competence, and confidentiality remain unchanged.
The overarching message, the agency said in a bulletin posted Wednesday, is that AI should augment — not replace — professional judgment.
“Technology serves as a powerful tool, not a substitute for professional judgment,” the OPR bulletin said. “Final decisions must always rest with qualified professionals who understand the complexities of tax law and ethical standards.”
CNN’s uncertain future claims its first major on-air talent
Paula Reid is leaving for MS NOW after reportedly raising concerns about Paramount Skydance's pending takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery
Redesign of US government websites stokes surveillance fears
The Guardian: “The National Design Studio, staffed by Doge veterans, installed visitor-tracking software on vital federal website. An opaque White House office staffed largely by veterans of Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) has quietly rebuilt some of the federal government’s most sensitive websites – for passport applications, voter registration, prescription-drug pricing and children’s savings – in ways critics say appear to violate federal law.
The National Design Studio (NDS) was established by a Donald Trump executive order last August, and is led by Trump-aligned Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia and staffed by Doge veterans.
A Guardian investigation has found the office has apparently been developing or redeveloping sensitive federal websites, including those connecting Americans with prescription drugs, children’s savings accounts, passports and voter registration. The investigation corroborates and advances earlier reporting by the Drey Dossier, a YouTube investigative outlet. The NDS built and now operates four public federal websites: ndstudio.gov, trumprx.gov, realfood.gov and trumpaccounts.gov. All four ran commercial visitor-tracking software, configured to evade the privacy tools many web users install, and none carry the public filings federal privacy law requires under laws including the Privacy Act of 1974 and the E-Government Act of 2002.
Separately, none of the NDS’s spending or its arrangements with outside vendors appears in USAspending, the federal contracting database, raising questions about how it is funded and overseen. Separately, the NDS has also built and runs White House-controlled versions of services the US Congress assigned to other federal agencies, including a passport-application portal that bypasses the state department’s existing site, and a copy of voter-registration site vote.gov.
Combined, the sites route sensitive interactions Americans have with their government through infrastructure the White House apparently controls, and outside the reporting and accountability systems that normally cover federal agencies…”
Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax
ProPublica – The Secret IRS Files: “In 2007, Jeff Bezos, then a multibillionaire and now the world’s richest man, did not pay a penny in federal income taxes. He achieved the feat again in 2011. In 2018, Tesla founder Elon Musk, the second-richest person in the world, also paid no federal income taxes.
Michael Bloomberg managed to do the same in recent years. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn did it twice. George Soros paid no federal income tax three years in a row. ProPublica has obtained a vast trove of Internal Revenue Service data on the tax returns of thousands of the nation’s wealthiest people, covering more than 15 years.
The data provides an unprecedented look inside the financial lives of America’s titans, including Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch and Mark Zuckerberg. It shows not just their income and taxes, but also their investments, stock trades, gambling winnings and even the results of audits.
Taken together, it demolishes the cornerstone myth of the American tax system: that everyone pays their fair share and the richest Americans pay the most.
The IRS records show that the wealthiest can — perfectly legally — pay income taxes that are only a tiny fraction of the hundreds of millions, if not billions, their fortunes grow each year. Many Americans live paycheck to paycheck, amassing little wealth and paying the federal government a percentage of their income that rises if they earn more.
In recent years, the median American household earned about $70,000 annually and paid 14% in federal taxes. The highest income tax rate, 37%, kicked in this year, for couples, on earnings above $628,300. The confidential tax records obtained by ProPublica show that the ultrarich effectively sidestep this system…”
