This is a guest blog by Scott Schumacher. Scott is an Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Graduate Program in Taxation at the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle, Washington. Prior to entering academia, he was an attorney with the Department of Justice Tax Division and in private practice with the law firm of Chicoine & Hallett in Seattle. He writes frequently on criminal tax matters and is one of the authors, along with our blog host Jack Townsend, of the book Tax Crimes, here.
In May of this year, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland granted a motion for judgment of acquittal in the case of United States v. Stevens (No.: RWT 10 CR 0694 (D. Md. 2011), here. Lauren Stevens, former vice president and associate general counsel of pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), had been charged with obstruction of justice and making false statements during a civil investigation by the FDA.
In a stinging rebuke of the government’s case, the court held that “only with a jaundiced eye and with an inference of guilt that's inconsistent with the presumption of innocence could a reasonable jury ever convict this defendant, and that “it would be a miscarriage of justice to permit this case to go to the jury.” The court concluded that “the defendant in this case should never have been prosecuted and she should be permitted to resume her career.”
Even though the court acquitted Stevens, as I discuss in the Tax Notes article, “Stevens: Is Zealous Advocacy Obstruction of Justice?”, 132 Tax Notes 1169 (9/12/11) here, this prosecution has implications for any lawyer, including tax lawyers, who regularly deal with the government.
Read more »
No comments:
Post a Comment