A
call for reason and fairness in the case of
U.S. vs. Walter Anderson
"The
deepest sin against the human mind is to believe things without evidence."
– Thomas H. Huxley
|
A
call for reason and fairness in the case of |
"The
deepest sin against the human mind is to believe things without evidence."
– Thomas H. Huxley |
|
        |
What's New The
most recent petitions and orders in the Tax Court have been added.
Read the main article for information A
formal report, is available,
both as web pages and downloadable
originals, concerning
Walt's conditions of incarceration, along with
supporting Exhibits. Update
1/10/2011
|
Happy 2011! |
Coming Soon News as it occurs.
|
A Message From Walt Anderson Happy New Year. I hope that you have a positive year in 2011 PRESS RELEASE WALTER ANDERSON STILL HELD ON BOGUS TAX CHARGES AS U. S. COURT IGNORES LAW US GOVERNMENT IGNORES RULE OF LAW VIOLATIONS OF FEDERAL COURTS IN RELATION TO WALTER ANDERSON TAX CASE WHILE CONDEMNING POLITICIZED DECISION OF RUSSIAN COURT The United States government, in a moment of irony, condemned the recent verdict in the trial of Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky. A White House Statement indicated that the United States government was concerned "by allegations of serious due process violations, and what appears to be an abusive use of the legal system" and "the selective application of the law". In February of 2005, Walter Anderson was accused by the government, in a flurry of publicity, of having committed "the largest individual tax fraud in history". Those familiar with Mr. Anderson's legal saga will recognize a similar pattern of prejudicial and biased judicial decisions which were not in accordance with the law. A hearing on January 14, 2011, will allow the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to correct the prior erroneous rulings of the District Court of the District of Columbia. The Appeasl Court will either decide to apply well established US law and exonerate to Mr. Anderson, or to continue to hold him in prison for a crime which the government has now virtually admitted he did not commit. The lower court, the Federal District court of the District of Columbia, at a March 29, 2010 hearing, followed the prosecutors recommendations to the letter, and spouted legal theories advance by the prosecution, which were not consistent with US law. That court refused to consider actual facts on the record and apply legal doctrines which are NOT discretionary under US law. The proper application of the law would have completely exonerated Mr. Anderson of the tax fraud charges that had been alleged against him Mr. Anderson was held almost 2 1/2 years in the life threatening conditions of the notorious DC Jail. The DC Jail has been the subject of countless investigations, court orders and legal actions related to: overcrowding, abuses and violence by staff; substandard medical care, and other fundamental human rights violations. Once Mr. Anderson pled guilty, however, he was moved out of the DC jail to a minimum security facility in New Jersey. In September of 2007 Anderson initiated a legal proceeding in the United States Tax Court (Note 1). After more than 21 months of litigation in the Tax Court, the legal counsel representing the IRS admitted, in their written pleadings, that their was no tax liability or tax fraud for 3 of the 5 tax years in the dispute. The IRS specifically admitted that income earned by investment vehicles owned by the Smaller World Trust, a charitable trust based outside the United States, which was managed by Mr. Anderson, was NOT subject to any United States Tax Liability. The Tax Court, after this IRS admission, entered a decision Mr. Anderson's favor. The IRS refused, however, to make the same admission for the final 2 years in dispute, even though issues remaining in those years were exactly the same as the prior years, and no change of tax law had occurred during that time. These final 2 years were the years related to Mr. Anderson's sentence and incarceration. Logically and practically, the IRS admission that there was no tax liability for the prior years exonerated Mr. Anderson. He has also been exonerated legally as well, by the non-discretionary legal doctrine known as "collateral estoppel", in which any issue that is once decided by a Court, is final and that issue can not be further disputed by the same parties in a later proceeding. The issues of tax liability and tax fraud were already decided in Mr. Anderson favor, these same exact issues can not now be disputed by the government. Mr. Anderson has spent the last 18 months attempting to get the United States Criminal Court system to acknowledge the IRS admission and to obtain the legal exoneration that is now his by right. The District Court of the District of Columbia delayed ruling on his case (note 2) as long as possible and then in March of 2010 re- sentenced Mr. Anderson, refusing to even consider the IRS admission, which they were required by law to consider and apply. A tax fraud under US law, must be a result of some amount of financial loss and if no loss has occurred, as admitted by the IRS, then NO possible fraud or crime could occur. United States Courts have a lot of discretion in some areas. But in relation to the legal doctrines that apply in this instance, they are not discretionary; they must be applied by the court in all appropriate circumstances. This "apparent selective application of the law" to Mr. Anderson does not seem any different than the decision of the Russian Court that so incensed the White House. The White house has not commented on the legal proceeding related to Walter Anderson. Once the IRS admitted that no tax liability occurred, and the Tax Court ruled in favor of Mr. Anderson, there should have been a fast track to Mr. Anderson's release from prison. Mr. Anderson has served almost 6 years on what are now invalid charges. It is now clear that Mr. Anderson did not violate the tax laws of the United States. The IRS has not proven any tax loss or liabiiity in the United States Tax Court, and since that was the last decision in time the criminal court must rely on that decision. Prior to the tax investigation targeting him, Mr. Anderson had no criminal history and was well respected in the international telecommunications & competitive space business communities. He donated a very significant amount of his resources to charitable causes that he believed in and was also a vocal supporter of human rights. On January 14, 2011, in a hearing in the federal courthouse in Washington DC, the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia (Note 3) will consider whether the laws of the United States should be applied to Mr. Anderson. The government in it's filings to the appeals court has not made a single point which could possibly justify ignoring the law. The government lacking a valid legal or factual argument, in this instance, seems to be asking the Court to rule in their favor because it would somehow be "unfair" to the government to lose this high profile case. A reversal against the government, would clearly be an embarrassment to the prosecutors and investigators who targeted Mr. Anderson and pursued this case against him. The government appears to consider a career embarrassment to their employees to be significantly more important than justice. Mr. Anderson's freedom and reputation do not seem to be a concern of the government. Many people in the entrepreneurial space community believe that the charges against Walter Anderson were politically motivated by the prior administration. Mr. Anderson was an advocate of substantial privatization of the US Space program. NASA and the cost-plus contractors that have received hundreds of billions in contracts from NASA were opposed to a competitive market in space technology and services. Now of course this is the official policy of the current administration and the new NASA administrator, but there is still opposition from the large contractors. Mr. Anderson was the founder of the Foundation for the Non-government Development of Space (FINDS), co-founder of the International Space university, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Space Frontier Foundation. He was named by New Scientist magazine as one of the 10 most influential people in the development of space. The "tax" investigation against Mr. Anderson appears to have begun shortly after Mr. Anderson founded MirCorp. MirCorp leased the MIR Space Station, in a commercial arrangement, from the Russian company that built it. MirCorp began operating the station as a commercial, international and nonmilitary space resource. MirCorp completed it's first private mission to the MIR Station and arranged with a major investment banking firm to underwrite an Initial Public Offering, to provide funds to renovate and operate the station. The Mir Station was de-orbited and destroyed in April of 2000 after the United States Government used financial inducements, threats and political pressure to coerce the Russian government. MirCorp signed up the first commercial space tourist, Dennis Tito, A Los Angeles businessman, who planned to visit the MIR. When the MIR Space Station was de-orbited, Mr. Tito's contract gave him the option to visit the Russian portion of the NASA International Space Station instead. NASA officials actively resisted this commercial activity, but ultimately MirCorp was able to fulfill it's contract with Mr. Tito and he spent more than one week on the International Space Station, and made history as the first commercial space tourist. The United States government has held Mr. Anderson for almost 6 years, for a crime that it is now clear did not occur. The U.S. Government had an opportunity to prove their claims in the United States Tax Court but instead was forced to make and admission to avoid going to trial. The Tax Court ruled in Walter Anderson's favor. Mr. Anderson has suffered enough injustice, he has been proven innocent and now it is possible that the Appeals Court by following the law will release him. Note
1 - Walter Anderson v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue - United States
Tax Court case no. 20364-07
UPDATE: January 10, 2011 The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has decided not to hold an oral hearing in relation to Walt Anderson's appeal. The Court indicated that they already have all the information needed to rule on the issue. The court does have adequate information that was provided by the written filings, which should, at least, allow them to follow the well established legal principles to finally exonerate Walt Anderson. However, the court may also chose to ignore the facts and law and rule once again against him, but this will be difficult to justify and explain after the clear admission of the Internal Revenue Service in favor of Mr. Anderson. One of the hallmarks of a totalitarian autocracy is a captive judiciary whose rulings are consistent with the governments interests. The United States promotes its justice system as being exemplary, in every way; but over 92% of all federal prosecutions are resolved in the governments favor. Mainland China, by contrast, has "only" a 90% success rate in prosecutions. Food for thought.
Walt
is presently incarcerated at a minimum-security federal prison
camp in Fairton, NJ. He can receive mail (see "Contact" page),
but his phone time is limited to only 300 minutes per month.
He can now also receive e-mail by way of a special program newly implemented
for minimum-security inmates. If you are on Walt's approved visitors
list, you will be able to send and receive text-only (no attachments)
e-mails.
BACKGROUND Walt Anderson was indicted for tax fraud by the U.S. Federal Government and arraigned on February 28, 2005. This was the result of an investigation which had been going on for six (6) years (since the summer of 1999). Mr. Anderson’s legal counsel had been in touch with and cooperating with the government investigators and prosecuting attorneys since he learned about the investigation in March of 2002. In spite of an agreement between Anderson’s legal counsel and the prosecution to allow Mr. Anderson to self surrender after an indictment and to be released thereafter, the prosecution requested the court to hold Mr. Anderson. They claimed that he was intending to flee the country (even though he was arrested when returning to the US from a short trip to Europe). Mr. Anderson has lived and worked in the Washington, DC area his entire life. It is very unusual for a person not having any criminal legal issues prior to the tax investigation to be held until trial. The prosecution made a large number of completely false and misleading claims to a US Magistrate and trial Judge to convince them to hold Mr. Anderson in prison prior to his trial. Virtually all of the non-violent offenders are released prior to trial if they have some connection to the United States. THE TAX CHARGES Mr. Anderson founded and operated Mid Atlantic Telecom (based in Washington, DC) for ten (10) years. The company was sold to a large public company (Rochester Tel, later Frontier Communications) in 1993. Mr. Anderson arranged for a percentage of the proceeds of this sale to go to a charitable /not-for-profit organization which he created called Smaller World Trust. The Trust was set up outside the United States in the British Virgin Islands. This allowed the endowment of the Trust (provided by Anderson) to grow tax free. The significant and material issue in the tax case against Anderson is if he is the owner of the assets in the Trust or is simply the founder and manager of these assets. The US Government claims he should pay taxes on these assets which were held outside the United States. Anderson did not receive any portion of these assets and received only a small management fee (which he reported and paid taxes on) and the reimbursement of expenses for his activities related to the management of the Trust. Gold & Appel Transfer S.A. (Gold & Appel) was one of the Trust assets. Gold & Appel was a venture capital/business development corporation which invested and managed the initial endowment for Anderson. This initial contribution of around 6 million US dollars grew rapidly. SMALLER WORLD FOUNDATION Smaller World Foundation (previously the Smaller World Trust) was formed as a not-for-profit charitable organization with certain specific purposes. It was formed and endowed by Walt Anderson in 1993. The bylaws of the organization designated that it would build assets for 13 years and begin some distributions in 2006. Walt Anderson, the “grantor” of the original trust, has been an active participant in the management of the assets since the inception. Walt Anderson is specifically excluded from being a beneficiary of the Trust/Foundation by its bylaws/conditions.
Web Design by Cyberjox, Ltd., Monroe County, PA |
