Justia U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

A jury convicted Linda Abramson-Schmeiler of five counts of filing a false tax return. The charges were based on her alleged failure to report all of the income she received from her business of "diversionary sales" (purchasing and then reselling large quantities of hair-care products). The government alleged that she falsely underreported her business's gross receipts or sales, by more than $1.4 million during the years 2003, 2004, and 2005, which then resulted in her falsely underreporting her personal income for the same amount. At trial, Defendant’s main defense was that she did not intentionally underreport her sales and income. She admitted that she had failed to report payments her business received for selling hair-care products. But she asserted that many of her diversionary sales were in cash and unrecorded and that she lost money or broke even on many of these transactions. She testified that when she did not make money on a transaction, she would consider it a "wash" and she would not report the transaction to her accountant for reporting on her income tax returns. The jury convicted Defendant on all counts. She was sentenced to thirty-six months’ imprisonment on each count, to be served concurrently, and ordered to pay restitution. Defendant challenged her convictions on three grounds: 1) the district court erred in precluding important lay witness testimony; 2) the district court erred in refusing to give defendant’s good-faith jury instruction; and 3) the government committed prosecutorial misconduct throughout the trial. Finding that Defendant failed to show any error at trial, the Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court's decision.

A jury convicted Lindsey Springer of one count of conspiring with Oscar Stilley to defraud the United States, three counts of tax evasion, and two counts of willful failure to file a tax return. Mr. Stilley was convicted of one count of conspiracy and two counts of aiding and abetting Mr. Springer’s tax evasion. The district court sentenced both men to fifteen years in prison, three years of supervised release, and restitution for tax losses exceeding $2 million. Mr. Springer and Mr. Stilley (Defendants) respectively challenged their convictions and sentences. Mr. Springer founded "Bondage Breakers Ministries" to offer legal and tax advice to individuals embroiled in tax disputes for which he was paid thousands upon thousands of dollars. He eventually met Mr. Stilley (now a disbarred lawyer) and together they devised a scheme to channel Mr. Springer's unreported income through Mr. Stilley's client trust account. "By 2005, Mr. Springer had gained the full attention of the IRS." The government executed a search warrant of Mr. Springer's residence, and Mr. Stilley was served with a grand jury subpoena. During the course of the investigation, Defendants denied receiving any income for their advice, representing instead that people simply made donations to Mr. Springer’s ministry, with no expectation of services in return. But at trial, the government refuted those statements, offering testimony from numerous witnesses who had paid large sums of money to defendants in exchange for their supposed tax and legal expertise. Based on this and other evidence, the jury convicted Defendants on all counts to which Defendants appealed. Upon review, the Tenth Circuit affirmed Defendants' convictions for substantially the same reasons articulated by the district court. The Court affirmed Defendants' respective convictions and sentences.

This appeal arose from a suit filed by the United States that asked the district court to reduce certain of Defendant-Appellant Jack Wilson’s tax liabilities to judgment, to set aside a fraudulent transfer of real property from Wilson to Defendant Joey Lee Dobbs-Wilson, and to enforce the government’s new liens, as well as one preexisting tax lien, against the real property by ordering a sale. Wilson appealed the district court’s order granting summary judgment to the United States. Wilson argued in his response to the government’s motion for summary judgment and in his cross-motion for summary judgment that Ms. Dobbs-Wilson was not his nominee when he transferred the property to her in 1998 and, as a result, a 1997 lien became invalid when the government mistakenly released it in 2003, after he no longer owned the property. Assuming the validity of Wilson's argument, and after supplemental briefing on the matter, the Tenth Circuit concluded that Wilson failed to demonstrate any injury to him that the Court could redress. Having determined that the Court lacked jurisdiction over his appeal, the case was dismissed.

Petitioner Charles Raymond Wheeler appealed a Tax Court decision finding him liable for (1) income-tax deficiencies for the years 2002, 2004, and 2005; (2) additions to tax for those years; and (3) a $25,000 sanction. Petitioner did not claim to have filed returns for the years in question, or to have paid taxes owing for those years, yet he urged the Tenth Circuit to overturn the Tax Court’s decision and determine that he had no liability. He contended on appeal that the Commissioner did not prove that he had failed to file returns, did not carry the burden of production on the additions to tax, and did not create a valid substitute return to support the taxes and additions imposed. In addition, he claimed that the Tax Court judge was biased against him. The Commissioner filed a motion for sanctions against Petitioner for filing a frivolous appeal maintained primarily for delay. Upon review of Petitioner's arguments, the Tenth Circuit found all without merit and affirmed the Tax Court's decisions and the imposition of sanctions.

Defendant Jodi Hoskins was convicted of tax evasion after she and her husband failed to pay taxes for income they earned through their Salt Lake City escort service. The government contended the Hoskins' failed to account for more than one million dollars in income generated in cash payments and credit card receipts. At sentencing, the government's tax loss was relevant to potential jail time and restitution under the United States Sentencing Guidelines. To minimize the tax loss for sentencing purposes, the Hoskins' offered hypothetical tax returns to account for the unreported income and attempted to take deductions they claimed they would have been entitled to but for the tax evasion. The district court rejected the hypothetical tax returns and accepted the government's tax-loss estimate. Defendant appealed her eventual sentence, arguing the sentencing judge abused his discretion in establishing the lost taxes. Furthermore, Defendant challenged the sufficiency of the evidence presented against her and the reasonableness of her sentence. Finding no abuse of discretion, and that the evidence presented at trial sufficient to support her sentence, the Tenth Circuit affirmed Defendant's conviction.

Defendant Catherine Senninger was convicted on six counts of mail fraud and one count of making a false claim against the Government. She was acquitted on several other counts, including conspiracy and additional mail fraud counts. At trial, the Government presented evidence that Defendant, through her involvement with Olympia Financial and Tax Services, participated in a scheme to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and the Colorado Department of Revenue by preparing false tax returns. Defendant was sentenced to 36 months' imprisonment, which was an upward departure from the advisory guidelines range. Defendant challenged her sentence and subsequent restitution order. Upon review, the Tenth Circuit found the district court "properly rejected" Defendant's arguments. Accordingly, the Court affirmed Defendant's sentence.

"The Dawses' struggle with the IRS has a lengthy provenance." Decades ago, Donald and Phyllis Dawes pled guilty for failing to file their 1981 through 1983 tax returns. They also failed to pay their taxes from 1986 through 1988, and 1990. All this led to the IRS to seek and win a declaratory judgment that the Dawses fraudulently conveyed certain assets in an effort to avoid their creditors and that those conveyances were null and void. The IRS proceeded to execute this judgment to take possession of these assets, but before it could do so, the Dawses filed for Chapter 12 bankruptcy protection. "And that brings us to the latest installment of this epic": with permission of the bankruptcy court, the Dawses sold several tracts of land. The sale created income tax liabilities. The Dawses submitted a bankruptcy reorganization plan in which they proposed to treat their newly incurred tax liabilities as general unsecured claims. The IRS opposed the plan "vigorously" but was unsuccessful at the bankruptcy and federal district court. The IRS brought its complaint to the Tenth Circuit, asking to "undo its earlier losses." Upon careful consideration of the lengthy record below, the Tenth Circuit found that the taxes at issue here were incurred by the Dawses after they petitioned for bankruptcy. "So it is that the Dawses must pay the tax collector his due." The post-petition income tax liabilities at issue were not eligible for treatment as unsecured claims under the Bankruptcy Code. The Tenth Circuit reversed the lower courts’ decisions and remanded the case for further proceedings.

The Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) appealed a Tax Court decision that granted summary judgment in favor of Salman Ranch, Ltd. The Partnership owned a ranch in New Mexico. The Partners individually entered into short sales involving United States Treasury Notes. With the cash proceeds from the sales, the partners satisfied some debt obligations and bought replacement bonds. In 1999, the Partnership increased its basis in the ranch to reflect proceeds from the short sales. However, they did not account for the offset obligation used to close the short sales. The IRS eventually determined these transactions artificially inflated the Partnership's basis in the ranch. The IRS issued Notices of Final Partnership Administrative Adjustments (FPAAs) to adjust the Partnership's 1999, 2001 and 2002 tax returns to correct for the alleged overstatement of basis. The FPAAs were issued more than three but fewer than six years after the returns were first filed. The Partnership challenged the FPAAs, arguing that they were issued outside the statute of limitations. The Court of Federal Claims found in favor of the IRS. The Federal Circuit Court reversed. Upon careful consideration of the arguments and the applicable legal authority, the Tenth Circuit reversed the district court's decision. The Court concluded that the statute of limitations had not run on the 2001 or 2002 FPAAs. The Court remanded the case to the tax court for further proceedings.

Defendant Manikhone Saignaphone pled guilty to conspiracy to defraud the government. The district court sentenced her to 26 monthsâ imprisonment. Defendant appealed the sentence, arguing that her sentence was unreasonable in light of the lesser sentences given to her co-conspirators. The Tenth Circuit reviewed the record and found that Defendant failed to overcome the presumption that her sentence was unreasonable. Accordingly, the Court affirmed the lower courtâs decision and Defendantâs sentence.