The morning of December 27th was peaceful and calm. Most people were enjoying the holidays. In my home, biscuits were coming out of the oven to join the omelets Maureen had prepared. A tremendous noise arose at the front door and six government agents, four with drawn weapons, stormed into our home yelling and screaming. I was forced to the floor and aggressively arrested by the IRS. My arms were cuffed behind my back, ankles chained, and another chain placed around my waist. (It took two weeks for the scars on my wrists to heal from the handcuffs.) I was taken to the Federal Court house, virtually no one was there --- the arresting agents had trouble even getting into the federal jail because the majority of the workers were gone for the holidays. Eventually I was shipped to a county jail for holding and later transferred to another.
As I understand it, an arrested person is supposed to be entitled to a pre-trial release hearing within 72 hours, but that does not include weekends or holidays so I was held in solitary confinement for seven days before an opportunity to hear a motion for my release could be made. Federal marshals, sheriffs and my legal counsel have all advised me I was arrested when and how I was as a show of spite by the IRS.
On January 2nd, an officer of the court recommended to the judge tasked with my pre-trial arraignment that I be released based on certain criteria. The IRS petitioned the court that I be held in jail until trial, even though a Grand Jury had NOT yet indicted me on any charges. An assistant District Attorney argued that I was a flight risk and made numerous oral allegations.
To support the claim that I was a flight risk the IRS pointed out that I was “too smart” about international affairs, that I lived part of each year outside the U.S. and that I was a pilot with access to aircraft and financial resources. An agent of the government lied on the stand saying I had told a security guard in our neighborhood the day prior to my arrest that I was leaving the U.S. permanently on January 7th. It was a lie. (I had thanked a security guard for watching our home when we traveled and told him I was would be flying to St Kitts, West Indies for the winter --- as I have done for the past 7 winters in a row) The twisted statement made by a federal agent was believed by the judge (himself a former IRS staffer) and he thus decreed that I be held in jail.
My counsel appealed the matter, and I was provided a second release hearing before a different judge 8 days later. Once again the District Attorney’s office, working in conjunction with the IRS, presented testimony as to why I was a serious flight risk. At this hearing an IRS agent was caught lying on the stand. Subsequently I was granted release based on criteria originally proposed by the first judge’s officer of the court. Nevertheless, it was to be another nine days before I was actually released from jail. In all, I was held 22 days for allegations that I checked the wrong box in 1994, 95, and 96 on my personal tax returns, and that I may have understated income from securities trades and a minor amount of interest. Normally, these would be civil audit issues, but the U.S. Internal Revenue Service is the only taxing authority in the world with authority to arbitrarily treat tax issues as criminal matters, draw guns on citizens, and put them in jail --- without even an indictment!
In court, the IRS was quite open about the fact that they hoped to amend the complaint with which they had charged me to include all kinds of nefarious acts, as yet unnamed. Of course, the real reason for the government’s angst has much more to do with my critical writing regarding IRS abuse as set forth in numerous published newsletters, magazine articles and my last five books.
During my 22-day incarceration I kept a journal of the happenings in the so-called “correctional system” that runs to over 150 handwritten pages. This was rather a hard task considering as an Inmate I was allowed pencils only 2” long (longer and they are called weapons) and was forced to write on my knee while in a bunk. I may eventually make these journal entries available over the Internet in some kind of downloadable form.
In summary, the IRS has filed a criminal suit against me. A court date was set within sixty days as required by law but an officer of the court advised me it would be a year or more before I actually go to trial. My family is well and incredibly supportive. My expectation is to continue to write and keep interested parties aware of developments regarding the loss of privacy in America, the legislative elimination of personal liberties, abuse of power as I view it, domestic and offshore asset protection strategies, the future of money in society, and so forth.