Ron Isley Going to Jail...
funky16corners
7,175 Posts
Ron Isley Gets 3 Years for Tax Evasion AP Photo/LUCY NICHOLSON LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Ronald Isley has been sentenced to three years and one month in prison for tax evasion.The 65-year-old R&B singer was also ordered to pay $3.1 million in back taxes to the Internal Revenue Service, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Conte.Isley was convicted last year of five counts of tax evasion and one count of willful failure to file a tax return.During Friday's hearing, defense attorney Anthony Alexander argued that Isley should receive probation instead of prison time because of complications from a stroke and a recent bout with kidney cancer.Alexander also pleaded for leniency because Isley had been attempting to pay down his IRS debt."He's been liquidating assets, he's been doing the things that he can," Alexander said.But U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson declined to sentence Isley to less time than called for under federal guidelines."The term serial tax avoider has been used. I think that's appropriate," Pregerson said.During the trial, prosecutors said Isley, lead singer of The Isley Brothers, avoided paying taxes numerous times in the past three decades and declared bankruptcy after the IRS seized his yacht, cars and other property in 1997.He was discharged from bankruptcy four years later, but then did not file tax returns for the years 1997 to 2001 and in 2002 did not sign his return and failed to pay all taxes due.Alexander argued during the trial that "unfortunate circumstances" such as the deaths of two of Isley's accountants made him unable to get records together and pay taxes during the years that led to the criminal charges.Isley's recent albums include a 2003 collaboration with Burt Bacharach titled, "Here I Am," and The Isley Brothers album "Body Kiss."He was expected to be sent to a Bureau of Prisons hospital facility.
Comments
I don't understand the logic of sending someone to jail behind this at all.
Nor do I, especially considering the fact that he's 65 and recovering from cancer and a stroke. Not exactly a triumph for the justice system.
In any case, I was trying to look up what the typical penalty for tax evasion was, and found this:
http://www.capweb.net/index/Articles/Taxes/Tax+Evasion
Check the comments:
It's like debtor's prison, which I thought was generally agreed upon as being a bad idea around the time this country was founded.
How's he supposed to pay off the money he owes while locked up? Host a "Kay Slay Presents Mr. Biggs: Behind Barz" mixtape over the phone?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWnMy1aPYsY
Can someone please tell me where the law is that says you need to pay income tax? If not since when do lower courts over rule the Supreme court?
Anyone seen the movie freedom to fascism yet?
I feel bad for Ron, especially since it is not clear whether or not he was actually breaking the law...
And they took his fucking yacht!
no offense but i don't think the justice system cares how old he is or what his health is like, and honestly, why should that matter?
yes, but the punishment is for willful evasion -- not for his debtor status. although i hate paying taxes as much as the next guy, it seems fair to me.
I'm not a tax attorney, but I think you want the 16th Amendment, which would obviously be controlling on any court--the Supreme Court is merely empowered to interpret the Constitution; this is the Constitution. A lower court can't over rule the Supreme Court, but if the SC has not yet addressed a particular point of law, the lower court's holding will be binding within its jurisdiction. It's a pretty settled point of law that one has to pay income tax, despite what the likes of Archaic may have to say on the subject.
Most unfortunate.
I'm not a criminal attorney, but I think age and infirmity can often be considerations in sentencing and release.
wow, i'm late on this but how did Kels go and make a Traped In The Closet type song out of the isleys?
i'm not saying i don't kinda like it, but wow
I agree that he should be penalized--I just think that a monetary penalty would be more appropriate.
This is a much larger discussion, but I don't really subscribe to the punitive model of imprisonment, and this country clearly has no interest in the rehabilitative model, which leaves a threat posed to others as the only good reason I can think of to lock somebody up, and Ron clearly isn't a threat to anybody.
well i don't think they should be! justice is supposed to be blind.
many of those comments are disturbingly revealing:
"i made my fortune insider trading and creating phoney trusts through a very creative law firm in detroit."
"I do not scare easily I am a Sicialian originally from Chicago and now in Jacksonville Florida I had mob ties in the past and that is all I will say on that issue. Screw the IRS"
See my reference to Aaron Russo's film. The blowed doesn't even have a movie about themselves.
The arguments don't stem from the purported vagueness of the body of tax law--the 16th Amendment is only one sentence, and it's a pretty simple one. The controversy, such as it is, is rooted in a belief that the 16th Amendment was never properly ratified. It's just some conspiricist bullschitt and it's not really worth anyone's time.
wait... does that make me win or you win? or does everyone lose this game?