FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2004 WWW.USDOJ.GOV TAX (202) 514-2008 TDD (202) 514-1888 WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department today announced that the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg yesterday ordered Thurston Bell to stop promoting a fraudulent tax scheme known as the Section 861 argument. This argument misinterprets the Internal Revenue Code by stating that persons with income derived from U.S. sources are exempt from federal income taxes. The courts order permanently bars Bell from promoting the frivolous argument.
In January 2003, the Court entered an order requiring Bell to disclose the names of his customers to the United States. Bell complied with the order by providing documents that contained approximately 1,500 names.
The Justice Department is taking steps to shut down the promotion of fraudulent tax schemes, said Eileen J. OConnor, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Departments Tax Division. With each additional court order, we come closer to being able to assure honest taxpayers that those who would cheat them are not getting away with it. According to papers filed in court by the federal government, Bell is linked to three other Section 861 promoters against whom injunction orders were entered in the past two years - Douglas Rosile of Venice, Florida; David T. Bosset of Spring Hill, Florida and Harold E. Hearn, an Atlanta, Georgia CPA.
A federal court in Tampa, Florida also entered a similar order against unrelated Section 861 promoter Carel A. Chad Prater last December.
Information about developments and other related cases can be found on the Justice Department's website at: http://www.usdoj.gov/archive/opa/pr/2002/February/02_tax_055.htm http://www.usdoj.gov/archive/opa/pr/2002/June/02_tax_352.htm http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/03_tax_128.htm http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/03_tax_036.htm http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/03_tax_015.htm 04-061
Source: US Department of Justice
