IRS claims it has LOST two years' worth of emails from former official Lerner

[Wilikon]

Lois Lerner Refused Tax Exempt Status to Hundreds of Conservative Groups – But Granted Status to an Underage Prostitution Ring


This seemingly boring property tax story began when attorney Ron Pruitt filed nonprofit incorporation documents with Texas’ Secretary of State on 7/11/2003. These documents were then filed with the IRS, where Lois Lerner, the former Director of Exempt Organization Rulings and Agreements, decided the Royal Order of Jesters deserved 501(c)(3) status as a charity and, on July 24, 2004, approved their application that classified their new headquarters as a “museum.” The Jesters then filed as a foreign corporation business entity with the Secretary of State of Indiana to qualify their new Indianapolis headquarters for property tax exemption. Additionally, the Jesters were afforded other nonprofit benefits including reduced postal rates, possible exemption from state income, sales, and employment taxes, tax-deductible contributions and exemption from Federal income tax. According to About.com, “Tax-exempt means that a nonprofit (1) does not pay taxes to the federal government and (2) that its donors can take a tax deduction for their donations to the organization.”

When the Jester news broke four years ago, we learned from the Buffalo News that a New York state Supreme Court judge resigned after the FBI caught him and two other Jesters in a human trafficking sting. These included his law clerk and a retired Lockport police captain. A retired Erie County Sheriff pleaded guilty last April to driving a limo of prostitutes from the Buffalo New York airport to a national Jester convention in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada in April, 2005 and not reporting the felony to authorities. The Judge testified in his plea agreement that he worked with national officials to make sure prostitutes got to a national Jester meeting in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The same plea agreement discloses that the Jesters are under federal investigation for sex trafficking, prostitution and child sex tourism.

The other story I broke four years ago reported that a group of 19 Jesters were on a witness list and were expected to testify about their first hand knowledge of sex with minor girls while on a fishing trip to Brazil. The list included national Jester director Samuel “Scutter” Newton.

The former fishing tour operator who organized the Jester fishing trip is currently being prosecuted by Brazilian authorities for trafficking underage girls into prostitution for his North American fishing clients. He is also under criminal investigation by a grand jury in Miami for child sex tourism and has been sued by four Brazilian women who claim he trafficked them into prostitution while minors.

The depositions of five Brazilian girls describe how one was left pregnant at age 13 after one such fishing trip. Fishing guides took pictures of Jesters having sex with minor girls and surrendered them to the Brazilian Federal Police. The fishing guides testified in the same case that the Jesters asked to be called “Masons” and for girls over 13. It is not yet known if these Jesters are among the twenty fishing customers currently under investigation by the Brazilian Senate.

Here is how the feds describe the Jesters in the Sheriff’s plea agreement.

“The Royal Order of Jesters (“ROJ”) is a worldwide fraternal organization whose membership is limited to individuals invited to join by other members. The motto of the ROJ is ‘mirth is king.’ The ROJ has local chapters or ‘courts.’ On occasion, a local court or group of local courts in the same geographical area sponsor social gatherings known as ‘books of the play’ or ‘books.’ The sponsoring courts organize the ‘books’ and arrange for food, lodging, and entertainment at the ‘books.’ The ROJ also sponsors a yearly national ‘book,’ the equivalent of a national convention. In April, 2005, the Jester’s national book was held in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. As set forth below, a typical feature of a ‘book of the play’ is the presence of prostitutes (‘Jester Girls’) who engage in commercial sex acts with members of the ROJ. Arrangements for the prostitutes are generally made by the organizer of the ‘books,’ or the region hosting the national ‘book.’ On occasion, individual Jesters make arrangements to transport prostitutes to ‘books.’”

http://sandyfrost.newsvine.com/_news/2012/02/14/10404340-the-reveal-part-7-jesters-lose-tax-decision

[Wilikon]

IRS Gave White House Thousands of Taxpayer Documents


The IRS improperly turned over thousands of confidential tax documents to the White House for review, according to information obtained from a lawsuit filed against the U.S. Treasury Department’s inspector general by the legal advocacy firm Cause of Action, exposing a pipeline of communication between the two, the Daily Caller reports.

“The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) informed Cause of Action that there exist nearly 2,500 potentially responsive documents relating to investigations of improper disclosures of confidential taxpayer information by the IRS to the White House,” Cause of Action noted, according to the Daily Caller.

Such documentation, including the exchange of confidential information between White House policy adviser Jeanne Lambrew and former IRS official Lois Lerner, came to light after it was revealed that the the IRS had likely targeted conservative groups for review, including one that had sought in a 2012 lawsuit to overturn Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate, the Daily Caller noted.

The Justice Department has asked for a longer window under which to review the newly found documents before releasing them publicly, the Daily Caller said.

The Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard, in his “Secrets” column, called news of the leaked documents a “shocking revelation.”

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/irs-taxpayer-documents-white-house/2014/11/27/id/609925/



---------------------------------------------------------------------
Shocking... But hardly surprising...

[Wilikon]

Feds balk at releasing docs showing IRS sharing tax returns with White House


Less than a week after ’fessing up that it found some 2,500 documents potentially showing that the IRS shared taxpayer returns with the White House, the Obama administration has reversed course and won’t release the trove to a group suing for access.

In an abrupt decision, the Treasury inspector general’s office said that the documents are covered by privacy and disclosure laws and can’t be provided to Cause of Action, despite a promise last week to hand over some 2,500.

The decision coincides with publication by the Washington Examiner this week of "Watchdogs, lapdogs and attack dogs," a four-part series examining the successes and failures of the inspectors-general system, including multiple instances in which IGs provided cover for agency managers seeking to avoid more rigorous evaluations.

“All of the 2,043 pages of documents we have determined to be responsive were collected by the Secretary of the Treasury with respect to the determination of possible liability under Title 26 of the United States Code. These pages consist of return information protected by 26 U.S.C. § 6103 and may not be disclosed absent an express statutory exception,” said the office in a letter dated Dec. 1.

What's more, Treasury, which oversees the IRS, is still considering what to do with another 466 documents and said that they will provide a "response regarding" them.

Dan Epstein, executive director of Cause of Action, said Treasury was using “sophisticated” lawyering to weasel out of providing the documents. And he noted that their letter said that Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is now looking into “potential liability” that his tax aides broke laws in sharing taxpayer information with the White House.

Epstein said that either Treasury was “stonewalling” his group, or that Lew “is incompetent” for just now looking at potential lawbreaking by his team on the case that is two years old.

It is just the latest twist in the taxpayer advocate’s effort to prove allegations of political harassment of conservative taxpayers and groups. The documents are not related to the larger IRS harassment of Tea Party groups, but could show a pattern of targeting by the White House.

Cause of Action had won a Freedom of Information legal action to gain access to the documents and expected them to be redacted. Epstein said that he expects to fight Treasury's move in court.


http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/feds-balk-at-releasing-docs-showing-irs-sharing-tax-returns-with-white-house/article/2556890

[Spendulus]

Feds balk at releasing docs showing IRS sharing tax returns with White House


Less than a week after ’fessing up that it found some 2,500 documents potentially showing that the IRS shared taxpayer returns with the White House, the Obama administration has reversed course and won’t release the trove to a group suing for access.

In an abrupt decision, the Treasury inspector general’s office said that the documents are covered by privacy and disclosure laws and can’t be provided to Cause of Action, despite a promise last week to hand over some 2,500.

The decision coincides with publication by the Washington Examiner this week of "Watchdogs, lapdogs and attack dogs," a four-part series examining the successes and failures of the inspectors-general system, including multiple instances in which IGs provided cover for agency managers seeking to avoid more rigorous evaluations.

“All of the 2,043 pages of documents we have determined to be responsive were collected by the Secretary of the Treasury with respect to the determination of possible liability under Title 26 of the United States Code. These pages consist of return information protected by 26 U.S.C. § 6103 and may not be disclosed absent an express statutory exception,” said the office in a letter dated Dec. 1.

What's more, Treasury, which oversees the IRS, is still considering what to do with another 466 documents and said that they will provide a "response regarding" them.

Dan Epstein, executive director of Cause of Action, said Treasury was using “sophisticated” lawyering to weasel out of providing the documents. And he noted that their letter said that Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is now looking into “potential liability” that his tax aides broke laws in sharing taxpayer information with the White House.

Epstein said that either Treasury was “stonewalling” his group, or that Lew “is incompetent” for just now looking at potential lawbreaking by his team on the case that is two years old.

It is just the latest twist in the taxpayer advocate’s effort to prove allegations of political harassment of conservative taxpayers and groups. The documents are not related to the larger IRS harassment of Tea Party groups, but could show a pattern of targeting by the White House.

Cause of Action had won a Freedom of Information legal action to gain access to the documents and expected them to be redacted. Epstein said that he expects to fight Treasury's move in court.


http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/feds-balk-at-releasing-docs-showing-irs-sharing-tax-returns-with-white-house/article/2556890

You must be mistaken.  At least in thinking this is some kind of story of concern and interest.

Because I just checked the Huffington Post and there was no mention of it.

[Wilikon]

Feds balk at releasing docs showing IRS sharing tax returns with White House


Less than a week after ’fessing up that it found some 2,500 documents potentially showing that the IRS shared taxpayer returns with the White House, the Obama administration has reversed course and won’t release the trove to a group suing for access.

In an abrupt decision, the Treasury inspector general’s office said that the documents are covered by privacy and disclosure laws and can’t be provided to Cause of Action, despite a promise last week to hand over some 2,500.

The decision coincides with publication by the Washington Examiner this week of "Watchdogs, lapdogs and attack dogs," a four-part series examining the successes and failures of the inspectors-general system, including multiple instances in which IGs provided cover for agency managers seeking to avoid more rigorous evaluations.

“All of the 2,043 pages of documents we have determined to be responsive were collected by the Secretary of the Treasury with respect to the determination of possible liability under Title 26 of the United States Code. These pages consist of return information protected by 26 U.S.C. § 6103 and may not be disclosed absent an express statutory exception,” said the office in a letter dated Dec. 1.

What's more, Treasury, which oversees the IRS, is still considering what to do with another 466 documents and said that they will provide a "response regarding" them.

Dan Epstein, executive director of Cause of Action, said Treasury was using “sophisticated” lawyering to weasel out of providing the documents. And he noted that their letter said that Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is now looking into “potential liability” that his tax aides broke laws in sharing taxpayer information with the White House.

Epstein said that either Treasury was “stonewalling” his group, or that Lew “is incompetent” for just now looking at potential lawbreaking by his team on the case that is two years old.

It is just the latest twist in the taxpayer advocate’s effort to prove allegations of political harassment of conservative taxpayers and groups. The documents are not related to the larger IRS harassment of Tea Party groups, but could show a pattern of targeting by the White House.

Cause of Action had won a Freedom of Information legal action to gain access to the documents and expected them to be redacted. Epstein said that he expects to fight Treasury's move in court.


http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/feds-balk-at-releasing-docs-showing-irs-sharing-tax-returns-with-white-house/article/2556890

You must be mistaken.  At least in thinking this is some kind of story of concern and interest.

Because I just checked the Huffington Post and there was no mention of it.

I believe Lerner has nothing to hide too.. But I like to waste my time updating this thread for some reason.. Must be A.D.D...

 

[Wilikon]

Judicial Watch Documents: Lois Lerner Met With DOJ Election Crimes Division One Month Before 2010 Midterm Elections



As result of a court order, the DOJ last month produced only two pages of heavily redacted emails (832 pages were withheld in entirety) that show the Obama Justice Department initiated an October 8, 2010, meeting between the IRS and top criminal prosecutors at the DOJ Public Integrity Section and Election Crimes Division “concerning 501(c)(4) issues.” On September 29, 2010, a DOJ official (whose name is blacked out) emailed a staff assistant at the IRS (whose name is also redacted):

"As we discussed this afternoon, we would like to invite Ms. Ingram [apparent reference to Sarah Hall Ingram former commissioner, IRS Tax Exempt and Government Entities] to meet with us concerning 501(c)(4) issues, and propose next Friday at 10:00 a.m. We are located in the Bond Building, 12th Floor, New York Avenue, NW, Thank you for your assistance."

The document shows that the unknown DOJ official setting up the meeting is with the Election Crimes Division of the Public Integrity Section of the DOJ’s Criminal Division. (Judicial Watch believes the redacted name of the DOJ official is Richard Pilger, Director of the Election Crimes Division.) The DOJ email setting up the IRS meeting is cc’d to the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section Chief, Jack Smith, and Principal Deputy Chief Raymond Hulser. The documents show that Ingram was not available but arranged for her deputy, Lois Lerner, then-Director of the IRS Exempt Organizations branch, to meet with the DOJ senior officials.

On September 30, 2010, the Election Crimes prosecutor emails Lerner:

"Hi Lois-It's been a long time, and you might not remember me, I've taken on [REDACTED] duties. I’m looking forward to meeting you, Can we chat in advance? I'm a [REDACTED]"

Lerner responded on October 2, 2010:

"Sure-that's a good Idea [sic]. I have a meeting out of the office Monday morning, but will try you when I get back sometime early afternoon. You can try me at 202 283-8848."

The Justice Department has withheld in full at least 832 additional pages of documents, citing various “taxpayer privacy,” “deliberative privilege,” and other exemptions to keep the records secret.

http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-lawsuit-forces-release-doj-emails-showing-irss-lois-lerner-met-doj-officials-just-2010-elections/




“These new documents dramatically show how the Justice Department is up to its neck in the IRS scandal and can’t be trusted to investigate crimes associated with the IRS abuses that targeted Obama’s critics. And it is of particular concern that the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section, which would ordinarily investigate the IRS abuses, is now implicated in the IRS crimes. No wonder the Department of Justice under Eric Holder has done no serious investigation of the Obama IRS scandal," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement. “It is shameful how Establishment Washington has let slide by Obama’s abuse of the IRS and the Justice Department. Only as a result of Judicial Watch’s independent investigations did the American people learn about the IRS-DOJ prosecution discussions of Obama’s political enemies and how the IRS sent, in violation of law, confidential taxpayer information to the FBI and DOJ in 2010. Richard Nixon was impeached for less.”

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2014/12/09/judicial-watch-documents-lois-lerner-met-with-doj-election-crimes-division-one-month-before-2010-midterm-elections-n1929418?utm_source=BreakingOnTownhallWidget_4&utm_medium=story&utm_campaign=BreakingOnTownhall

[Wilikon]

IRS Watchdog Continues to Hide Records on White House Leaks

Of 2509 documents, government agrees to release 31



An independent IRS monitor announced Monday it will block the release of roughly 400 more pages of documents related to unauthorized leaks of confidential taxpayer information to the White House.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) told the watchdog group Cause of Action it would be withholding nearly all of the 2,500 documents it located that were related to unauthorized IRS leaks to the White House. Earlier this month, TIGTA told Cause of Action it was withholding roughly 2,100 of the documents and said it would take an additional two weeks to review the rest.

TIGTA released 31 pages of documents on Monday to Cause of Action, 27 of which were already publicly available. Most were responses to letters from Republican senators.

As previously reported by the Washington Free Beacon, Cause of Action filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against TIGTA for the long-sought-after records after the agency refused to even acknowledge whether they existed or not.

A federal judge ruled in September that TIGTA could not hide the existence of its investigations into improper leaks. In response TIGTA identified 2,509 responsive documents to Cause of Action’s FOIA request but said it was barred by law from releasing them.

TIGTA has used a statute meant to shield confidential taxpayer information to block FOIA requests over the past several years that seek information on investigations into politically motivated IRS leaks by the Obama administration.

For example, TIGTA refused to confirm or deny the existence of an investigation into former White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee in response to several FOIA requests from the Washington Free Beacon, Koch Industries, and Cause of Action.

Goolsbee sparked a mini-scandal in 2010 when said during a background press briefing that Koch Industries—the company of libertarian philanthropists Charles and David Koch—paid no income taxes.

“It is disappointing that more than 4 years later, we still don’t know what Mr. Goolsbee exactly did or what TIGTA’s investigation revealed,” Koch Industries general counsel Mark Holden said in a statement to the Free Beacon.

In a statement, Cause of Action said it will file a motion claiming TIGTA is violating public record law by refusing to release the rest of the records.

In response to a question about the case at a White House press briefing earlier this month, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the Obama administration “has been very rigorous in following all of the rules and regulations that govern proper communications between treasury officials and White House officials and the Internal Revenue Service.”


http://freebeacon.com/politics/irs-watchdog-continues-to-hide-records-on-white-house-leaks/

[Wilikon]

BOMBSHELL REPORT: IRS Targeted ‘Icky’ Conservative Groups



Top IRS officials specifically targeted tea party groups and misled the public about its secret political targeting program led by ex-official Lois Lerner, according to a bombshell new congressional report.

The Daily Caller has obtained an advance copy of a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee report set to be released Tuesday morning that definitively proves malicious intent by the IRS to improperly block conservative groups that an IRS adviser deemed “icky.” (That’s right. “Icky.”)

“The Committee has identified eight senior leaders who were in a position to prevent or to stop the IRS’s targeting of conservative applicants,” the Oversight report states. “Each of these leaders could have and should have done more to prevent the IRS’s targeting of conservative tax-exempt applicants.”

Here are six major takeaways from the report:

1. The IRS admitted that the front office was “spinning” about the targeting rumors as early as 2012, after IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman denied the tea party targeting to Congress.

“This is what the front office and [IRS Chief of Communications and Liaison] Frank [Keith] are spinning about now,” an IRS legislative affairs office employee wrote in an email to co-workers, referring to a news article on Shulman’s dishonest testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, in which he denied rumors of improper targeting.

2. Then-IRS commissioner Steven T. Miller almost broke down and told the truth about the tea party targeting at a July 2012 hearing, but Lerner’s sidekick Nikole Flax told him not to.

“I am beginning to wonder whether I should do [Chairman] Boustany[’s hearing] and affirmatively use it to put a stake in politics and c4,” Miller wrote in an email to Flax.

Flax replied, “If the hearing is as generic as I recall, seems like you are too senior.  Would be silly to think the c4 issues won’t come up – but I think Sarah [Hall Ingram] could handle it fine as well.”

3. The IRS definitely treated tea party applications by a different standard than applications from other (c)(4) groups.

“Normal (c)(4) cases we must develop the concept of social welfare, such as the community newspapers, or the poor, that types,” Lerner underling Stephen Seok said in testimony published in the report. “These [Tea Party] organizations mostly concentrate on their activities on the limiting government, limiting government role, or reducing government size, or paying less tax.  I think it[‘]s different from the other social welfare organizations which are (c)(4).”

4. Lois Lerner expressed her frustration about having to potentially approve a lot of groups, and her colleagues in the agency assured her that she wouldn’t have to.

“Lois [Lerner] would like to discuss our planned approach for dealing with these cases. We suspect we will have to approve the majority of the c4 applications,” IRS official Holly Paz wrote to colleagues.

IRS official Don Spellman replied, “This line in particular stood out: ‘We suspect we will have to approve the majority of c4 applications.’ That’s an interesting posture.”

Deputy Division Counsel Janine Cook replied, “[G]uess they are thinking they’ll have suspicions about reality but the paper/reps will pass muster.”

5. So the IRS reached out to outside advisers to help come up with ways to deny tax-exempt status to “icky” organizations.

“It appears that the org is funneling money to other orgs for political purposes,” a Cincinnati-based IRS agent working under Lois Lerner wrote to tax law specialist Hilary Goehausen in April 2013. ”However, I’m not sure we can deny them because, technically, I don’t know that I can deny them simply for donating to another 501(c)(4). . . .  Any thoughts or feedback would be greatly appreciated.”

“I think there may be a number of ways to deny them,” Goehausen replied. “Let me talk to Sharon [Light] tomorrow about it and get some ideas from her as well. . . .This sounds like a bad org. :/ . . .  This org gives me an icky feeling.”

6. A May 2011 email from a lawyer in the IRS chief counsel’s office made clear that the agency sought to use a new “gift tax” to target donors to nonprofit political groups.

The lawyer wrote that the “plan is to elevate the issue of asserting gift tax on donors to 501(c)(4) organizations to the Chief Counsel and the Commissioner.”



http://dailycaller.com/2014/12/22/bombshell-report-irs-targeted-icky-conservative-groups/

[Wilikon]

IRS mistakenly penalizes Christine O’Donnell a second time, placed levy on bank accounts


Adding to the long-running saga of IRS dealings with conservatives, former Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell says the tax agency punished her mistakenly for the second time in five years by imposing an erroneous levy on her bank accounts.

Ms. O’Donnell told The Washington Times that she discovered the levy when she couldn’t access her checking account as she was preparing to visit relatives over Thanksgiving.

“The day before I was heading out of town for the Thanksgiving weekend, my bank told me the IRS had frozen my accounts. They didn’t give me a reason why, just a phone number to call,” Ms. O’Donnell said in an interview this week.



She said she called the Internal Revenue Service and was told the agency had concluded she owed $30,000 in taxes from a 2008 house transaction, which was long ago accounted for on her federal returns. She said she implored the agency to check her tax records and eventually was told the levy was generated in error and her accounts would be freed up.

Although IRS officials removed the levy, they first withdrew all the funds from her account. They said that, too, was in error and the funds would be returned to her. The funds have not been replaced, Ms. O’Donnell said.

Ms. O’Donnell, who writes a column for the online Washington Times Communities, says her only current matter pending with the IRS is that she filed for an extension to pay her 2013 taxes but that the levy had nothing to do with that filing.


“They said it was a mistake, and they removed the levy. I’m grateful, but I also wonder what someone with less government experience might do when they find themselves frozen from their money because the IRS got its paperwork mixed up. It can be scary. You feel helpless if you can’t even buy gas for your car,” she said.
Asked where she thought her latest IRS run-in fit into the bigger controversy over the agency’s dealings with conservatives, she answered cautiously.

“While I don’t believe in coincidences, it’s possible that this was just bureaucratic bungling. But either way, the IRS has to be held accountable. It needs to do its job right and not target or inconvenience taxpayers unfairly,” she said.
IRS officials said federal tax privacy laws prohibit them from commenting on individual taxpayer matters.

Ms. O’Donnell, a tea party favorite who burst onto the national stage in 2010 when she upset a longtime incumbent and won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Delaware, has been one of several high-profile conservatives to claim mistreatment from the IRS and other federal authorities.

Senate investigators continue to probe why Delaware state authorities accessed Ms. O’Donnell’s IRS tax file on a Saturday morning in spring 2010, right around the time she announced her candidacy and a story was leaked alleging that she owed back taxes to the IRS, which was later proved to be false.

Delaware authorities claim the records check was routine but that the computer records detailing what was searched have since been destroyed. Lawmakers in both parties have cited the episode in raising concerns about possible lax access for state agencies to sensitive federal tax records.

The first tax lien was placed on a house she had sold more than two years earlier, and it created headaches for her finances and her campaign. The lien was highly publicized and used to discredit Ms. O’Donnell’s candidacy just as it was getting off the ground, even though she no longer owned the home in question.

The IRS eventually removed the lien, blaming it on a computer error. Ms. O’Donnell sold the home in 2008, and financial documents from her lender show that her back payments were satisfied in July 2008, long before the IRS initiated the bogus lien.

Ms. O’Donnell also battled a three-year audit of her personal finances that ultimately ended with her repaying $1,100 to the federal government. She said friends and family also were subjected to intrusive audits, though they were cleared. She believes the first round of IRS intrusions were political and malicious, and she has called on Congress to rein in the tax agency.

The second erroneous tax lien was revealed the same week that House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell E. Issa, California Republican, released a report highlighting emails he said showed a clear anti-conservative bias inside the IRS. It was also the same week that the House Ways and Means and Senate Judiciary committees confirmed they were still investigating the 2010 breach of Ms. O’Donnell’s tax records.



http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/25/christine-odonnell-tea-party-figure-says-irs-mista/

[deluxeCITY]

IRS mistakenly penalizes Christine O’Donnell a second time, placed levy on bank accounts


Adding to the long-running saga of IRS dealings with conservatives, former Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell says the tax agency punished her mistakenly for the second time in five years by imposing an erroneous levy on her bank accounts.

Ms. O’Donnell told The Washington Times that she discovered the levy when she couldn’t access her checking account as she was preparing to visit relatives over Thanksgiving.

“The day before I was heading out of town for the Thanksgiving weekend, my bank told me the IRS had frozen my accounts. They didn’t give me a reason why, just a phone number to call,” Ms. O’Donnell said in an interview this week.



She said she called the Internal Revenue Service and was told the agency had concluded she owed $30,000 in taxes from a 2008 house transaction, which was long ago accounted for on her federal returns. She said she implored the agency to check her tax records and eventually was told the levy was generated in error and her accounts would be freed up.

Although IRS officials removed the levy, they first withdrew all the funds from her account. They said that, too, was in error and the funds would be returned to her. The funds have not been replaced, Ms. O’Donnell said.

Ms. O’Donnell, who writes a column for the online Washington Times Communities, says her only current matter pending with the IRS is that she filed for an extension to pay her 2013 taxes but that the levy had nothing to do with that filing.


“They said it was a mistake, and they removed the levy. I’m grateful, but I also wonder what someone with less government experience might do when they find themselves frozen from their money because the IRS got its paperwork mixed up. It can be scary. You feel helpless if you can’t even buy gas for your car,” she said.
Asked where she thought her latest IRS run-in fit into the bigger controversy over the agency’s dealings with conservatives, she answered cautiously.

“While I don’t believe in coincidences, it’s possible that this was just bureaucratic bungling. But either way, the IRS has to be held accountable. It needs to do its job right and not target or inconvenience taxpayers unfairly,” she said.
IRS officials said federal tax privacy laws prohibit them from commenting on individual taxpayer matters.

Ms. O’Donnell, a tea party favorite who burst onto the national stage in 2010 when she upset a longtime incumbent and won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Delaware, has been one of several high-profile conservatives to claim mistreatment from the IRS and other federal authorities.

Senate investigators continue to probe why Delaware state authorities accessed Ms. O’Donnell’s IRS tax file on a Saturday morning in spring 2010, right around the time she announced her candidacy and a story was leaked alleging that she owed back taxes to the IRS, which was later proved to be false.

Delaware authorities claim the records check was routine but that the computer records detailing what was searched have since been destroyed. Lawmakers in both parties have cited the episode in raising concerns about possible lax access for state agencies to sensitive federal tax records.

The first tax lien was placed on a house she had sold more than two years earlier, and it created headaches for her finances and her campaign. The lien was highly publicized and used to discredit Ms. O’Donnell’s candidacy just as it was getting off the ground, even though she no longer owned the home in question.

The IRS eventually removed the lien, blaming it on a computer error. Ms. O’Donnell sold the home in 2008, and financial documents from her lender show that her back payments were satisfied in July 2008, long before the IRS initiated the bogus lien.

Ms. O’Donnell also battled a three-year audit of her personal finances that ultimately ended with her repaying $1,100 to the federal government. She said friends and family also were subjected to intrusive audits, though they were cleared. She believes the first round of IRS intrusions were political and malicious, and she has called on Congress to rein in the tax agency.

The second erroneous tax lien was revealed the same week that House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell E. Issa, California Republican, released a report highlighting emails he said showed a clear anti-conservative bias inside the IRS. It was also the same week that the House Ways and Means and Senate Judiciary committees confirmed they were still investigating the 2010 breach of Ms. O’Donnell’s tax records.



http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/25/christine-odonnell-tea-party-figure-says-irs-mista/

For some reason I don't think this was a true mistake. It was probably a political move to both discredit her as well as make it difficult for her to speak out against Obama

[Wilikon]

OH LOOK! Here Are More Of Lois Lerner’s ‘Lost’ Emails


Just when you though things could not get any worse for former Exempt Organizations Unit of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Director Lois Lerner, they do.

Today, Judicial Watch, who has been exposing Lerner’s “lost emails” since the controversy first broke back in January of 2013, released new emails from Lerner, in which she tells IRS Deputy Director Joseph Grant not to visit the IRS’s Cincinnati Office because the agency was in the middle of congress questioning whether or not conservative groups were being targeted.

• April 4, 2012 – 4:41 PM – Lois Lerner to Joseph Grant:

We just gor an very extensive information request from Imraan [Imraan Khakoo, TE/GE official] –sure looks like op review material. I’m especially concerned that information about pipeline is being asked about … Add to that the fact tha cincinnati is smack dab in the middle of the c4 Congressional inqueries and is about to get a request from TIGTA on all of that, this is NOT a good time to be asking them for anything or to be talking to them about issue in their work. Everyone is stressed to the max and at their wits end, so can we put this off please? [Typos in originals]

• April 4, 2012 – 5:17 PM – Joseph Grant to Lois Lerner:

It is a visit, not an OP review … I am also interested in the questions Imraan sent to them. Some answers should be readily at hand. Others certainly won’t be … The questions just serve as a framework for a broader conversation about how things are going and what is on our respective minds.

• April 4, 2012 – 5:26 PM – Lois Lerner to Joseph Grant:

I get that–but timing would be bad if we have to go to Cincy now. So, I will assume we can go
over this here as I get the information I’ve already asked for? Thanks.

• April 4, 2012 –5:42 PM – Joseph Grant to Lois Lerner:

I think we are in agreement, but just to be sure. I am planning to go to Cincy at the end of the month. I am travelling with Nan Marks and Imraan.

• April 4, 2012 – 6:15 PM – Lois Lerner to Joseph Grant:

Fine with me–just trying to keep the stress level manageable in Cincinnati–they are pretty freaked. Please don’t ask them about closures, pipelines, wait time for full development cases, or the c4 application letters. I know Imraan is really interested in that stuff in general—I promise to give him info—that just wouldn’t be the best place to ask. Thanks

• April 04, 2012 — 9:41 PM – Joseph Grant to Lois Lerner:

Noted.

The IRS is being investigated for allegations that they targeted conservative and Tea Party groups leading up to the 2012 elections, in order to stifle Republicans getting elected.

Also, Lerner and President Obama claimed that the suggested IRS targeting of conservatives came from “low-level” IRS offices who were managing applications for organizations.

However, new emails obtained by Judicial Watch show that Lerner’s department within the IRS handled conservative organization’s applications.

• February 29, 2012 – 2:53 PM – Holly Paz to Lois Lerner:

Lois, EO Determinations noticed an uptick in applications from advocacy organizations early in 2010. The first case was referred to EO Technical in…2010. That case was an application for…status. It closed…2010 when the… At that time, EO Technical requested another…from an…be transferred to EO Technical. Such a case was transferred in…2010. That case also closed…2012 after the… EO Technical also requested an application from a…be transferred from Determinations. A case was transferred in…2010. It is still being developed by EO Technical. To give you a sense of the growth in the number of these cases, in October 2010, we had identified approximately 40 advocacy cases.

As of about 10:00 a.m. on 2/28/2012, we had 229 of these cases. Of the 229 cases, 141 have been assigned. Development letters have been sent to the majority of the 141 assigned cases. The oldest control dates of those cases that are still unassigned are 2/8/2011, 3/18/2011, 4/28/2011, and 5/28/2011. These will be assigned next. Otherwise, we’re at approximately 6/6/2011 control date for these cases. EO Technical provided guidance regarding the development of applications by advocacy organizations to EO Determinations in November 2011.

Paz’s allegation about an “uptick in applications from advocacy organizations early in 2010” is contradicted by the May 14, 2013, TIGTA report on the matter, which details that such applications actually declined in 2010 from the prior year.

On the same exact day, Lerner seems to have known that the requests for information from conservative and Tea Party groups was burdensome.

• February 29, 2012 – 6:30 PM – Lois Lerner to Holly Paz:

Have we given Cincy new guidance on how they might reduce the burden in the information requests and make it clearer that recipients can ask for extensions? I don’t want any more letters going out on advocacy cases until the letters have been adjusted. Also, I have been telling folks that not all the letters are the same because it depends on the facts. What I’ve seen so far though is identical letters–can you clarify for me please. Thanks

• February 29, 2012 – 8:18 PM – Holly Paz to Lois Lerner:

Andy and Justin are working on revising the letter. That should be done soon. In the meantime, Cindy [Cindy Thomas, Director of OE Cincinnati Office] and I discussed having specialists print the relevant parts of since that seemed to be the most burdensome request. We can hold off on sending anymore development letters until we have the revised version.

Still, more “missing emails” from Lerner have yet to be found. It is still not clear what the IRS did with the emails, though Judicial Watch seems to be obtaining them more and more over time.

http://thehayride.com/2015/01/oh-look-here-are-more-of-lois-lerners-lost-emails/

[Wilikon]

Surprise: Obama Administration Still Stonewalling on IRS Scandal



The Inspector General's office charged with looking into the IRS targeting scandal has denied Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed by The Hill pertaining to more than 500 correspondences between their office (known as TIGTA) and various Obama officials and IRS scandal players.  Correspondent Bob Cusack reports on the latest stonewall:


The Obama administration is refusing to publicly release more than 500 documents on the IRS’s targeting of Tea Party groups. Twenty months after the IRS scandal broke, there are still many unanswered questions about who was spearheading the agency’s scrutiny of conservative-leaning organizations. The Hill sought access to government documents that might provide a glimpse of the decision-making through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The Hill asked for 2013 emails and other correspondence between the IRS and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). The request specifically sought emails from former IRS official Lois Lerner and Treasury officials, including Secretary Jack Lew, while the inspector general was working on its explosive May 2013 report that the IRS used “inappropriate criteria” to review the political activities of tax-exempt groups. TIGTA opted not to release any of the 512 documents covered by the request, citing various exemptions in the law. The Hill recently appealed the FOIA decision, but TIGTA denied the appeal. TIGTA also declined to comment for this article.


So in addition to the IRS "losing" and "accidentally" destroying certain communications attached to this scandal, the IG's office is also blocking access to documents that do exist.


http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2015/02/10/surprise-obama-administration-still-stonewalling-on-irs-scandal-n1955503?utm_source=BreakingOnTownhallWidget_4&utm_medium=story&utm_campaign=BreakingOnTownhall

[Wilikon]

IRS watchdog reveals Lois Lerner missing emails now subject of criminal probe


The IRS’s inspector general confirmed Thursday it is conducting a criminal investigation into how Lois G. Lerner’s emails disappeared, saying it took only two weeks for investigators to find hundreds of tapes the agency’s chief had told Congress were irretrievably destroyed.

Investigators have already scoured 744 backup tapes and gleaned 32,774 unique emails, but just two weeks ago they found an additional 424 tapes that could contain even more Lerner emails, Deputy Inspector General Timothy P. Camus told the House Oversight Committee in a rare late-night hearing meant to look into the status of the investigation.

“There is potential criminal activity,” Mr. Camus said.

He said they have also discovered the hard drives from the IRS’s email servers, but said because the drives are out of synch it’s not clear whether they will be able to recover anything from them.

“To date we have found 32,744 unique emails that were backed up from Lois Lerner’s email box. We are in the process of comparing these emails to what the IRS has already produced to Congress to determine if we did in fact recover any new emails,” Mr. Camus said.

Democrats questioned the independence of Inspector General J. Russell George, who is overseeing the investigation, saying he’s injected politics into his work.

Rep. Gerald Connolly, Virginia Democrat, said Mr. George is refusing to turn documents over to him, prompting a heated reply.

“You’re not entitled to certain documents,” Mr. George said.

“Oh really? We’ll see about that, won’t we,” Mr. Connolly replied, saying that he questioned whether Mr. George could be trusted if he’s refusing to provide documents, yet is in charge of an investigation into whether the IRS stonewalled document requests.

The hearing was the latest chapter in the complex investigation into the IRS’s targeting of tea party groups for special scrutiny.

Several congressional committees are still probing the matter, and both the inspector general and the Justice Department are conducting criminal investigations.

In a 2013 report, the inspector general said the IRS had improperly targeted conservative and tea party groups’ applications for nonprofit status, asking repeated intrusive questions and delaying their applications well beyond a reasonable time. Some of those groups are still waiting, with their applications now pending for years.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, Utah Republican and Oversight Committee chairman, said the ongoing investigations undercut President Obama’s assertion last year that there was no evidence of corruption in the IRS’s targeting.

“I have no idea how the president came to such a definitive conclusion without all the facts,” he said.

The IRS belatedly told Congress it may have lost some of Ms. Lerner’s emails after her computer crashed, and asserted that the backup tapes didn’t exist.

But under questioning from Mr. Chaffetz, Mr. Camus said it took him only two weeks to track down the backup tapes, and when he asked the IRS depository for them, the workers there said they’d never been contacted by the agency itself.

Republicans said that was stunning because IRS Commissioner John Koskinen repeatedly assured Congress the emails were irretrievably lost.

“I think they have misled or lied to the committee,” said Rep. John L. Mica, Florida Republican.

Mr. Camus said they were clued in to the 424 new tapes they just found a couple of weeks ago after realizing the IRS hadn’t given over a key document. They demanded that document, and realized it showed hundreds of other tapes existed.

Democrats said the investigation has dragged on too long and been too expensive, pointing to the IRS’s estimate that it has spent $20 million on staff and equipment to try to comply with the committee’s request.

Ms. Lerner, who oversaw the unit of the IRS that scrutinized nonprofit groups’ applications, is a central figure in the investigations.

After belatedly discovering that some of her emails weren’t being recovered, the IRS did try to reconstitute them by asking other employees to dig through their emails to see if they were the recipients of any messages that involved her. That did produce some of the missing emails.

Democrats said the GOP seemed to be insinuating Ms. Lerner had purposely crashed her hard drive to hide emails — though she herself pushed to try to get messages recovered.

Democrats also questioned why the hearing was happening now, given that Mr. Camus and Mr. George both stressed that their findings are preliminary and could change as they learn more.

“It seems that the best course of action would be to have the inspector general come back when his report is complete,” said Rep. Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the panel.



http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/feb/26/irs-watchdog-reveals-lois-lerner-missing-emails-no/?page=2


---------------------------------------------
Smidgen of corruption all over...

[Wilikon]

Chaffetz was stunned when he asked Camus if anyone from the IRS had ever asked for the backup tapes and he replied, “No.”

“We send a subpoena, we send letters, we have hearings, we hear all kinds of excuses from the IRS,” Chaffetz said. “Every excuse you can have under the sun — you find them in two weeks, and then when you go talk to the IT people who are there in charge of them, they told you that they were never even asked for them. Is that correct?”

“That is correct,” Camus replied.

[Wilikon]

[2dogs]

Jailtime would be too good for them.

[Wilikon]

Legally Blind IRS Employee Searched Lois Lerner’s Hard Drive…



The first IT specialist to inspect the computer hard drive of former IRS exemptions director Lois Lerner was legally blind, according to an affidavit filed last year by Stephen Manning, deputy chief information officer for strategy and modernization at the IRS.

Manning’s July 18, 2014, affidavit pertained to a lawsuit filed by True the Vote against the IRS alleging that Lerner led an effort to target it and similar conservative groups by refusing to grant them tax-exempt status.

J. Christian Adams, a former Department of Justice attorney writing for PJ Media, flagged the affidavit which provided the educational background of the IT specialist.

“According to the Specialist, prior to joining the Internal Revenue Service, from 2004 to 2005, formal Microsoft training was completed through Lions World Services for the Blind, a certified Microsoft training and testing center,” Manning stated.


http://dailycaller.com/2015/03/02/lois-lerners-hard-drive-was-searched-by-legally-blind-irs-employee/

[Westin Landon Cox]

Jailtime would be too good for them.

I agree. Unfortunately no one will be punished for this. To me it's just more evidence that the US Govt no longer has even a smidgen of a claim to legitimacy.

Last Great American Whale

[ajareselde]

This whole scandal is turning out to be more of a parody of some sort.
Its emberrasing that its happening at such high levels, because theyre even lying worse than some kids from the street.

cheers

[Wilikon]

Politico Sat On Scoop Lois Lerner Had Prior History Of Targeting Conservatives…



Politico scored a journalistic coup with its exclusive 2014 profile on Lois Lerner, the former IRS official at the center of the agency’s targeting of conservative groups.

But a former Illinois lawmaker who said Politico contacted him repeatedly that year with questions regarding claims he was targeted by Lerner in the mid-1990s has been left wondering why the news group chose to ignore his documented dealings with the former federal official.

“I was shocked,” Al Salvi told the Washington Examiner’s media desk, describing what he characterizes as several “lengthy” interviews with Politico reporter Rachael Bade.

Lerner went after his 1996 Senate campaign with a lawsuit totaling $1.1 million — an enforcement action that was eventually thrown out of court — when she was working at the Federal Election Commission, according to Salvi.

“I spent something like an hour and a half talking to Politico about this,” said Salvi, whose dealings with the FEC are well documented by the federal agency. “And I’m nowhere in the story. They had no intention of using anything I said.”


http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politico-sat-on-allegations-lois-lerner-had-prior-history-of-targeting-conservatives/article/2561408