Legal Ethics
Lawyer Charged with Selling Abusive Tax Shelters to Jenkens Clients
Posted Nov 17, 2008 11:52 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A lawyer who was an executive at Bank One has been charged with selling abusive tax shelters to clients of his employer and the now-defunct law firm Jenkens & Gilchrist.
The indictment unsealed on Friday claims lawyer John B. Ohle III sold an abusive tax shelter known as “Homer,” named after the cartoon character Homer Simpson, the New York Times reports. The sales of 36 shelters created $430 million in fraudulent losses, costing the government $103 million in uncollected taxes, according to a press release. Manhattan prosecutors claim Deutsche Bank arranged the financial transactions, the story says.
Jenkens & Gilchrist earned $12.1 million in fees from the transactions, the indictment says, while Bank One earned $5.2 million. Bank One has since been acquired by JPMorgan Chase.
A lawyer for Ohle, David Spears, told the Times his client “did not commit any crime, and we intend to defend the case vigorously at trial.”
Jenkens & Gilchrist shut down last year after it admitted in a nonprosecution agreement with federal prosecutors that it marketed fraudulent tax shelters at its Chicago office. The firm also reached a civil settlement with the Internal Revenue Service.
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Comments
B. McLeod
Nov 17, 2008 12:44 PM CST
Under the circumstances, “collected” might be a better word choice than “earned.”
When I see these types of stories, I am always reminded of how important it can be to avoid having one’s name or firm name preceded by “now defunct.” The phrase (as most know) connotes an enterprise that once was “funct” (meaning “functional”) but now is something else entirely. I have also noticed over time that where these firms are referenced on resumes, people generally leave off the “now defunct” (e.g., “the now defunct Heller”). Perhaps that is out of concern that they may be blamed for causing the critical loss of funct.
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