Las Vegas Man Facing Life in Prison for Paying Employees in Gold and Silver Coins
May 26th, 2009Keep this in mind as you read the piece below:
Via: Las Vegas Review Journal.
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Keep this in mind as you read the piece below:
Via: Las Vegas Review Journal.
I’d be surprised (altho, happily) if this guy doesn’t see a lot of prison time. “Tax revolt” is, I’d think, on everyone’s mind to a lesser or greater degree. They’ll want to do everything they can to “make an example” of this guy, so nobody else “gets any ideas”.
As much as I like the thought of money actually backed by something, I suspect that tax evasion/protest might have been the intent in this case. It certainly highlights the massive disconnect between the face value of bullion coins and their metal content, not to mention their legal tender status.
It’ll be interesting to see how this case unfolds.
How is this a crime? The government can only blame itself if the face value is below the actual cost of the metal.
That video is really telling. Good post.
How is this a crime? I’m no lawyer, but imho this case will revolve around intent. Unless the defendant inherited or was gifted the coins he used to settle his contracts with the independent contractors, there should be a paper trail (perhaps not) documenting the price paid in FRN for the coins if their purchases were recent transactions. If no price can be determined and US gold and silver eagles are ruled to be legal tender, how can the gov’t infer that the defendant intended to defraud the IRS by using the coins face value? I feel the pricing is the key point because of the way precious metals can be included in US IRA’s. The way I understand it, one purchases US Eagles or any other .995+ bullion coin for market FRN prices. The FRN value is the one used for determining the amount the IRA investment is priced at. If US eagles are not legal tender, this opens a whole new can of worms. On its web site, the US Mint says these coins are legal tender but puts face value inside quotes? I’ll wager this case doesn’t come to trial.
You just can’t imagine how much safer I already feel to know that this man will be kidnapped and locked up in a concrete and steel cage for the rest of his life, and just how cuddly and snuggly I find my delusions.
/sarcasm