‘Survivor’ Winner Can’t Raise Cheating Allegations in Tax Case

U.S. Supreme Court

‘Survivor’ Winner Can’t Raise Cheating Allegations in Tax Case

Posted Oct 16, 2008, 01:32 pm CDT
By Martha Neil

An early winner of the CBS Survivor television reality show says its producer promised to pay the tax on his winnings, after he caught employees smuggling food to other contestants in Borneo in 2000.

But his claim—which CBS denies—wasn't relevant in Richard Hatch's trial on tax evasion charges, a trial judge determined. An appellate court agreed, and now the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to grant certiorari, reports the Associated Press.

Convicted of tax evasion in federal court in Providence, R.I., in 2006, Hatch, who is 47, was sentenced to 51 months in prison. In addition to his $1 million Survivor winnings, he was found not to have paid tax as required on $327,000 earned by co-hosting a Boston radio show and $28,000 in rental income from real estate he owned.

Hatch was acquitted of fraud charges concerning the charitable Horizon Bound program he had planned to open for troubled young people.

Related coverage:

TaxProf Blog: "Survivor Winner Richard Hatch Appeals Tax Evasion Conviction to Supreme Court"

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