Former Oregon couple accused of obstructing IRS

[coffeeseven]

http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2009/01/10/news/doc49679a072b2f6749974518.txt

Saturday, January 10, 2009

PORTLAND (AP) — A former Oregon attorney and her husband have been indicted on accusations they took nuisance actions against the Internal Revenue Service employees investigating them.

Micaela Renee Dutson and her husband, Tony Dutson, were indicted last May on accusations of running an $8 million tax fraud scam.

A superseding indictment returned Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Portland alleges the couple tried to obstruct the IRS by filing baseless liens against four IRS workers. The liens claimed a debt owed by the employees to the Dutsons totaling $1 trillion.

The indictment alleges the Dutsons also helped file a frivolous lawsuit against an IRS agent and filed IRS forms that falsely claimed the payment of millions of dollars to the employees investigating them.

"The IRS works quickly to identify and stop these nuisance schemes aimed at harassing honest taxpayers and the government," Eileen Mayer, chief of the IRS criminal investigation division, said in a statement Thursday.

"Today's indictment signals our determination to hold accountable those who engage in this type of frivolous activity."

The Dutsons, who have moved from the Portland area to Arizona, have yet to be arraigned on the obstruction charges and are not in custody. Last June, the couple pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to defraud the government and failure to file tax returns.

The indictment charges them with a conspiracy to market an illegal tax avoidance program, beginning in 1997 and continuing through at least October 2005.

Micaela Dutson resigned from the Oregon bar in 2002.
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http://www.assetprotectionblog.net/2006/03/

According to court filings in the case, the Dutsons sold a program that used sham trusts and corporations to hide customers' income and assets from the IRS. Court filings showed that the Dutsons charged customers between $4,000 and $8,000 and that the IRS has identified over 100 persons who purchased the scheme. Micaela Dutson is a former practicing attorney who resigned from the Oregon bar in 2002 according to the complaint.
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http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/87579.php

June 06, 2008, 8:23 p.m.
The Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. - A former Oregon attorney and her husband have been indicted on federal charges of running an $8 million tax fraud scam out of Arizona.

Micaela Renee Dutson and her husband, Tony Dutson, were arraigned Thursday in federal court in Portland. Both pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to defraud the government and failure to file tax returns.

The indictment charges them with a conspiracy to market an illegal tax avoidance program, beginning in 1997 and continuing through at least October 2005.

The Dutsons marketed and sold more than 150 "trust" packages consisting of corporations and entities they referred to as "irrevocable pure trust organizations" and "irrevocable business trusts," according to the indictment.

Prosecutors say the Dutsons falsely advised clients they could legally avoid paying taxes by putting their income and assets - including real estate and vehicles - into the trusts.

The couple typically charged $1,500 to $2,500 to establish each trust in a package, and used the fact that Micaela Dutson was once a lawyer to build relationships with their clients.

Micaela Dutson resigned from the Oregon bar in 2002, and the couple moved from Tigard, Ore., to Mesa, according to court documents.

U.S. District Judge Earl Carroll in Phoenix issued an order in March 2006 that barred the couple from promoting what prosecutors called a tax fraud scheme and required them to provide a customer list to the government.

Carroll noted in his order that various defense documents filed by the Dutsons in Arizona were "generally unintelligible, legally frivolous, void and a nullity" that "serve no useful purpose."

The indictment unsealed Thursday in Portland said the couple also used a common scheme the Internal Revenue Service calls the "straw man," based on the fictional claim the government establishes an account for every citizen at birth that can be used to pay taxes.

[lastlady]

I'm praying for them. This is a battle I wouldn't wish on anyone.

[John Edward Mercier]

$1500-$2500 and she convinced them that the earnings on the trust assets would never be taxed.