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Former Chicago Bear pleads guilty to tax charges
Law Firm News |
2013/03/03 15:59
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Former Chicago Bears player Chris Zorich pleaded guilty Thursday to federal tax charges, admitting to the judge that he didn't file in a timely fashion.
The 43-year-old faced four misdemeanor counts of not filing federal income tax returns from 2006 to 2009. Over that time, he allegedly made more than $1 million, including income from a charity he founded.
The judge asked Zorich if he knew he was wrong not to file the returns.
Yes, your honor, Zorich said, wearing a black suit and tie.
His attorney previously said Zorich was looking forward to putting the case behind him.
The Chicago native was on the 1988 Notre Dame team that won a national championship. He played for the Bears from 1991 to 1996 and ended his career with the Washington Redskins in 1997.
Zorich must pay $71,000 in back taxes as part of a plea agreement. He is to be sentenced July 12. Each count carries a maximum sentence of a year in prison and a $100,000 fine. |
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Fla. lawyer at center of $300M scheme
Legal World News |
2013/02/22 15:58
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One of the men who authorities say was at the center of a scam to use a veterans charity as a front for an illegal gambling operation worth nearly $300 million was a well-known attorney who once ran a marathon in a suit as a publicity stunt.
Another man involved in the case was described by friends as a small-town “pool hustler” in South Carolina. Jacksonville attorney Kelly Mathis was identified by authorities as the man at the center of the alleged racketeering scheme. Two other men charged as co-conspirators had experience running gaming parlors, including Johnny E. Duncan, who was charged more than 20 years ago with creating a fake charity to sponsor bingo gaming, which allowed the games to operate tax-free. The other man, Jerry Bass, had previously worked as general manager of a video poker parlor in South Carolina.
Authorities said Mathis made about $6 million from the operation. During a news conference Wednesday, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi unveiled a poster with a photo of Mathis in the center and linked to dozens of alleged gambling operations. Officials said he was the registered agent for 112 businesses related to the investigation. Nearly 60 people have been arrested so far. |
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Man pleads not guilty in Oakland bank bomb case
Legal Information |
2013/02/20 15:57
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A 28-year-old former Marine has pleaded not guilty to charges that he tried to blow up an Oakland bank with a car bomb.
The Oakland Tribune reports Matthew Aaron Llaneza of San Jose entered the plea Friday in federal court. If convicted, he could face life in prison for attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.
LLaneza's attorney says his client was found to suffer from significant mental illness but was competent to stand trial.
Authorites say Llaneza tried to blow up a Bank of America branch last month and ignite a civil war by blaming the bombing on anti-government militias.
LLaneza has been held in jail since he was caught in an FBI sting operation involving an agent posing as a member of the Taliban. |
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Bin Laden's son-in-law: Pleads not guilty in NY
Legal Information |
2013/02/14 15:56
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Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, the charismatic al-Qaida spokesman, fundraiser and son-in-law to Osama bin Laden, is likely to have a vast trove of knowledge about the terror network's central command but not much useful information about current threats or plots, intelligence officials and other experts say.
Abu Ghaith pleaded not guilty Friday to conspiring to kill Americans in propaganda videos that warned of further assaults against the United States as devastating as the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that killed nearly 3,000 people.
Believed to be more of a strategic player in bin Laden's inner circle than an operational plotter, Abu Ghaith would be the highest-ranking al-Qaida figure to stand trial on U.S. soil since 9/11. Intelligence officials say he may be able to shed new light on al-Qaida's inner workings — concerning al-Qaida's murky dealings in Iran over the past decade, for example — but probably will have few details about specific or imminent ongoing threats.
He gave U.S. officials a 22-page statement after his Feb. 28 arrest in Jordan, according to prosecutors. They would not describe the statement.
Bearded and balding, Abu Ghaith said little during the 15-minute hearing in U.S. District Court in New York — in lower Manhattan just blocks from Ground Zero — and displayed none of the finger-wagging or strident orations that marked his propaganda in the days and months after 9/11.
Through an interpreter, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan asked whether he understood his rights. Abu Ghaith nodded and said, Yes. Asked whether he had money to hire an attorney, he shook his head and said no. He nodded and said yes when asked whether he had signed an affidavit describing his financial situation. |
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