United States v. Perry

Defendant, a manager at the Ford Motor Company, was convicted of four counts of willful income tax evasion in violation of 26 U.S.C. 7201 for failing to report and then concealing kickbacks received from Ford vendors during each of the 2001 through 2004 tax years. The court concluded that there was more than sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt, with respect to each count, that defendant committed an act of tax evasion within six years of the indictment; the district court did not err in not suppressing defendant's involuntary statements made during an agent's interview; the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant's motion for a Franks v. Delaware hearing; the district court's tax loss findings were not clearly erroneous; in any event, the court need not consider the tax loss findings issues because defendant made no showing that the items in question - individually or in combination - would have lowered his base offense level by reducing the net tax loss; defendant's sentence was reasonable where the district court did not abuse its considerable discretion in fashioning an appropriate sentence; and the court rejected defendant's restitution claims. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "United States v. Perry" on Justia Law