Chapter 220: Tips also need to be taxed?
With no other choice, Nicola could only look at David for help.
At this time, David's face was also tossing and turning.
Like Nicola and others on the stage, he did not expect that these eight leaders would give in as soon as they came to court.
But no matter what, since people’s attitude towards pleading guilty is so good, it would definitely be inappropriate to adopt the same punishment as before for those criminals.
And if the sentence is lenient as appropriate, it seems to be more conducive to the future situation.
Just imagine, once you plead guilty and have a good attitude, you can get a lighter sentence. Then in the future, it is estimated that many other criminals will not choose to fight the IRS forcefully, but will definitely strive to cooperate with the IRS. In order to get a lighter sentence.
Thinking of this, David also made a decision in his heart. He stood up from the auditorium and walked all the way under the judge's seat. At this time, Nicola also leaned over slightly, wanting to listen. Hear what his opinion is.
“Judge Nicola, since the criminals have a positive and good attitude in pleading guilty, I think they should be given a lighter sentence. This will be more beneficial to our IRS in handling future cases. What do you think?”
“ I agree with you.”
"That's it..."
David communicated with Nicola in a low voice for another two or three minutes, and then retreated to the seat in the auditorium.
And Nicola stood up and read out: "Now the verdict is pronounced. The defendant Joey is guilty of tax evasion. However, in view of his good attitude in pleading guilty, he is sentenced to 20 years in prison, and all illegal gains are confiscated. Income, totaling 39.65 million U.S. dollars. "
"The defendant Price was convicted of tax evasion, but due to his good attitude in pleading guilty, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison and all illegal income was confiscated, totaling 56.88 million U.S. dollars. ”
“The defendant Darwin...”
As soon as the verdict was announced, the eight ringleaders fell weakly onto their chairs.
At this moment, their mood can be described as a mixture of sorrow and joy
First of all, 20 years in prison is indeed not too short for them. After all, how many 20 years can there be in life? ?
But having said that, compared with the tax evasion criminals that David dealt with before, their sentences now can be said to be light sentences within a wide range of circumstances.
After all, the tax evaders David dealt with before were often sentenced to thousands of years in prison, and the most important thing was life without parole.
The current sentence for them is only 20 years, and the most important point is that it does not impose a sentence of life without parole. In other words, as long as they behave well during their sentence, they may be released in just ten years. .
For them, this is somewhat of a blessing in misfortune.
"Okay, this trial is over, and there will be an hour's adjournment. This court will try the other three members!"
After that, there were many people in the auditorium. People began to walk out of the door in an orderly manner, while some people continued to wait where they were.
David here found Keanu and told him: "On behalf of our western suburbs branch, go outside to accept interviews with the media and report the results of this trial, but remember, You must emphasize that you will get a light sentence only if you have a good attitude of pleading guilty, do you understand?”
He also wants to use media propaganda to tell the lawless elements in the western suburbs that as long as you confess, you will be lenient, and there will be absolutely no good results if you resist!
"Understood."
Keanu immediately walked out of the court, took the elevator to the first floor, then walked out of the door to the media, and said: "Dear media friends, I It’s Keanu, the deputy director of the Western Suburbs Branch. The results of the trial have come out. Next, I will give you a briefing. Because the prisoners in this trial had a relatively good attitude towards pleading guilty, the judge also adopted a light sentence as appropriate. Eight of them were sentenced separately. Sentenced to 20 years in prison!”
After saying this, the media reporters at the scene were stunned.
Although they were not able to enter the court hearing, they had all guessed before. According to David's past style, these eight criminal group leaders would definitely be sentenced to another thousand years in prison.
But what I didn't expect was that not to mention a thousand-year prison sentence, not even a hundred-year prison sentence appeared, but in the end I was sentenced to a 20-year prison sentence?
Such a huge contrast makes people unable to accept it for a while.
And soon, some netizens on the Internet made speculations.
“Only sentenced these eight criminal group leaders to 20 years? This does not seem to be like Director David’s previous style!”
“The deputy director of the Western Suburbs Branch is not Did you say that because these eight criminals behaved relatively well, they received a light sentence.”
"Performing well? I don't think that's the reason. Do you think it's because of human rights organizations?"
"I think so too. Didn't people from human rights organizations go to protests before and were arrested?" Well, then these eight ringleaders were given light sentences. I think it is very likely that the Xijiao Branch could not handle those three members, so they chose to give light sentences in order to give human rights organizations a chance to step down! "
"..."
It has to be said that the speculations of some netizens are still a bit unreasonable from a logical perspective.
People from human rights organizations came to protest today after all.
David's previous actions of arresting people on the street were considered by many netizens to be too motivated.
If this matter wants to be solved perfectly from the perspective of the IRS, it must be able to convict these three people of tax evasion, as David said before.
But the person has just been arrested, and the people from the human rights organization are not criminals. There must be nothing big to arrest him. What’s more terrible is that David has already said that the trial will be held today. , this time is too hasty, the possibility of conviction cannot be said to be impossible, but it is also extremely low.
What should we do?
The best solution is to talk to human rights organizations and let everyone reduce the big issue to the small one.
But people from human rights organizations have been bullied to this point, how could they just give up?
Unless...
The IRS does something to back down.
For example, the sentence this time has jumped from the previous thousand-year sentence to 20-year sentence. From a certain perspective, this can definitely be regarded as a major compromise for human rights organizations!
Actually, it’s not just many netizens who think this way.
Many members of the Los Angeles human rights organization also thought about this after hearing the news.
"Haha, President Butler, I think the top officials of the IRS must have realized that this matter was not going to end well, so they bowed to us and tried to find a way out."
"That's right, this David was always sentenced to thousands of years in prison in the past, but this time he was only sentenced to 20 years. This must be under pressure from their senior management. I believe their senior management will soon Call us and ask for the stairs."
"You want to ask us for the stairs now, why did you dare to arrest our people on the street, haha!" br>
“…”
The members of the human rights organization seemed to have won a major victory, and everyone was talking happily.
Although President Butler did not make a sound at this time, the joy on his face could not be concealed. Haha, IRS, do you also bow your head sometimes?
David, wasn’t the person who arrested me just now quite arrogant? Where is that arrogance now?
"President, this is a major victory for our human rights organization. I think we should arrange the follow-up work!"
Hearing the reminder from a member, Bo Teller finally came back to his senses from the joy in his heart. The IRS compromised with their human rights organization. Why shouldn't their human rights organization be in the limelight?
Thinking of this, he immediately nodded and said: "Let's make arrangements first. After the notice from the IRS comes over, we will carry out comprehensive publicity!"
"Yes."
...< br>
Los Angeles, Municipal Bureau of Internal Revenue.
David was drinking coffee in a lounge, and at this time Lewis opened the door and walked in, reporting: "Director, there are many rumors outside, saying that it was the reason why we targeted the eight criminals. The lenient sentencing of the group leader was actually to resolve conflicts with human rights organizations..."
After hearing what he said, David was also stunned.
The reason why he gave light sentences to these eight ringleaders was actually to get publicity for leniency by confessing to the criminals in the area. How come it has now become a request for steps from human rights organizations? Down?
Lewis said cautiously: "Director, after all, the people from the human rights organization just came to make trouble, and then these eight people got light sentences, so it's no wonder that the outside world thinks so..."
< br>David came back to his senses and thought about it carefully, it seemed that this was really the case.
“Forget it, ignore it!”
No matter what people outside say, after the court is held and he cleans up the three members of the human rights organization, everyone will know whether he is asking the human rights organization to step down.
The one-hour court recess lasted for 50 minutes in the blink of an eye.
At this moment, Buckney, Simmons and the other three walked in panting, and said: "Director, as per your request, everything is done!"
After that, The three of them handed over a portfolio respectively.
After David took it, he opened it and looked at it one by one. After making sure that there was no problem, he got up and pushed the door open and walked towards the court. Los Angeles human rights organization headquarters.
Butler and members of human rights organizations have been waiting for a call or person from the IRS, but now that the court is about to begin, there is no news at all from the IRS.
This also made one member lose his composure. He said viciously: "What the hell is going on? Why is there no movement from the IRS?"
Others Although he didn't speak, he still couldn't understand it.
Could it be that the reason why the eight criminal group leaders received light sentences was really because they had a good attitude in pleading guilty, and was it not because the IRS was asking them for help?
And all this was just because they were being sentimental?
Thinking of this, Butler's fists were clenched hard, and he gritted his teeth and said: "Okay, then I want to take a closer look at how this damn David convicted our people!"
At the same time, at the General Administration of Washington, a group of senior officials from the Internal Revenue Service gathered in the conference room, watching the real-time footage from the court hearing with serious, nervous and anxious expressions.
Although David had promised them before that he would find these three guilty of tax evasion, a promise is still a promise. When the results are not available, no one can guarantee what will happen next.
……
The court was about to start, and the place was packed.
Everyone wants to witness with their own eyes who will have the last laugh in this dispute between the Western Suburbs Bureau and the human rights organization.
Since David is so confident in convicting the three of them, will he be able to succeed?
With everyone’s expectations, the time came to 4.30.
“Everyone stand up!”
In the passage, Nicola came out, sat down at the seat, and said: "The court is now in session, bring the defendant!"
After saying this, in the passage on the other side, the inspector from the Western Suburbs Bureau The three people from the human rights organization were brought to the dock.
But unlike the previous eight leaders and the previous prisoners who came here for trial, these three people did not have any panic or anxiety at all. Instead, they looked ecstatic.
This doesn’t look like a prisoner being judged. People who don’t know better think that the three of them are here to be judges.
Looking at the posture of these three people, Nicola on the stage frowned slightly, but still asked routinely: "The defendants Ted Antonio, Ivan Felice, Flynn... Nelson, now that this court has formally charged you with tax evasion, what do you want to say?”
"Your Honor, I have nothing to say. Since you suspect us of tax evasion, please come up with evidence!"
"Ted is right, evidence is king!"
"Judge, please don't accuse us unjustly. We are good citizens. Let alone tax evasion, we have never cursed anyone!"
The three of them raised their heads high and hugged each other confidently with their hands. On his chest, he looked extremely arrogant.
“Dang Dang Dang...”
Jenny raised the awl and struck it hard several times. These three people did not even address them by the honorific title 'Your Honor', and they looked arrogant and domineering. Naturally, this made her very dissatisfied. She immediately reprimanded: "Defendant , please pay attention to your words, otherwise this court will charge you with contempt of court!"
The three people at the scene still looked confident.
Among them, the man named Ted who threw the money before even said: "Judge, we are just telling the truth. If you think this is contempt of court, then please come to the scene and those of you who are watching the live broadcast. The senior officials of the IRS are here to evaluate the situation!”
On the surface, he meant that the senior officials of the IRS were here to evaluate the situation, but his words also hinted that it is not just the senior officials of the IRS here, but also the senior officials of the IRS. There are celebrities from all walks of life.
You want to convict us of this crime?
Let’s see if we can convince the public!
Of course Nicola understood it. In order to worry about the impact, she softened her attitude and said, "You just need to answer yes or no!"
"Your Honor, we No tax evasion!"
The three of them answered in unison
Nicola nodded, and then looked through the information of the three people on the table, but the more she looked at it, she His brows furrowed even more.
Among the three, the oldest has been working in society for more than ten years, and the youngest, Ted, has been working for two or three years.
But every source of income over the years has detailed tax records.
So let alone tax evasion, there has never been even one day of arrears with the IRS.
Now she finally understands why these three dare to be so arrogant.
There was no other way, Nicola could only put down the file information, raised her eyes to look at David below, and said: "Director David, I have read their tax files, there are no problems. As the party accusing them, your western suburbs branch, please come out and make a statement now!”
It’s true that Nicola is an IRS judge, and she also wants to convict these three human rights organization mad dogs.
But now there is no evidence and no excuse at all, so even if she is the boss of the court, she cannot forcefully convict him in front of so many people.
David stood up with one of the file bags, walked to the audience, opened it, reached in and took out a USB flash drive, and said to Nicola on the stage: "Your Honor, Judge , please allow me to play a video.”
“Allow!”
A court official took the USB flash drive from David’s hand, then walked to the projector not far away and plugged it in. Go up.
Without leaving everyone too confused, a picture appeared in the next second.
The picture is of a restaurant, and a young man dressed as a waiter comes out of the kitchen carrying a plate of Italian.
At this time, both the people at the scene and the senior officials of the IRS who were watching through the live broadcast saw at a glance that the waiter was none other than Ted, who was being interrogated at the scene.
I saw Ted bringing pasta to the table of a man in a suit.
The man in a suit took out a wad of bills from his pocket, then selected a 20-dollar bill and handed it to Ted.
Ted said "Three Q's" before turning around and leaving, and the scene ended abruptly.
As the scene stopped, the scene also became quiet.
But soon, the expressions of Felton, Joao and others in the auditorium changed.
Others may not realize what this means, and may even think that this is just a very common scene.
After all, it’s just a tip. This is extremely normal in the United States.
But as people in the IRS system, no one knows better than them what tax evasion is!
This $20 is just a small amount of money.
But according to the tax law, taxes are also required, but in the past, the IRS was too lazy to pursue this small profit.
But things are different now. Now they are worried that they have no handle or excuse to deal with Ted.
Although it is a bit exaggerated to pay no tax on the 20 US dollars, it can be regarded as an excuse for them to lay off Ted!
After all, 20 US dollars is money and personal income. According to American tax laws, as long as an individual obtains benefits, he or she needs to pay taxes.
How else to say that death and taxes are inevitable in the United States?
Government Administration, Washington.
"Okay, okay, although this tip is nothing, if you want to dig into the tax laws, you can definitely charge him with tax evasion!"
"Well, although this small amount of money It’s a bit far-fetched, but as long as you can find a reason, it will be much easier!”
The senior executives, who had been pent up for a long time and were extremely nervous, breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the video.
But at this time, there was someone different from them.
This person was Vertonghen. He said: "Don't be too happy. I barely found a handle on Ted, but what about the other two?"
When they heard this, everyone who was originally ecstatic felt like a basin of cold water was poured on their heads.
Yes, convicting Ted can save some face.
But as long as the other two are not convicted, the IRS will also be unable to escape the whirlpool of public opinion afterwards. It is not too early to be happy now.
(End of this chapter)