James H. Giffen, the target of an extensive FCPA investigation and indictment (including two superseders), recently resolved at least criminal woes -- at least some of them -- through a plea agreement. I write on that plea agreement because the plea is to a tax count and it raises some interesting issues. The plea agreement and the information with the count of conviction pursuant to the plea are here and here. First I will just provide a summary of the plea agreement and then raise the issues that interest me.
Giffen pleads to the one information count charging "willfully failing to supply information regarding foreign bank accounts, in violation of Title 26, United States Code, Section 7203" for the year 1996. The reference is to the foreign account question on Schedule B of the 1996 return. Section 7203 is a misdemeanor with a maximum incarceration period of one year and, according to the plea agreement, a maximum fine of $25,000. Giffen waives the statute of limitations for the charge to which he pleads. That statute of limitations expired normally six years after the date he filed the return (approximately March 27, 1997, according to the information).
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