7th Circuit Rules for Tax Lawyer in 'Yo-Yo' Case That Spanned 23 Years
A unanimous opinion by the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lays to rest IRS claims that a prominent tax lawyer fraudulently avoided paying taxes.
The late Burton Kanter, a tax attorney for some of Chicago’s wealthiest families, had been accused of fraud by the Internal Revenue Service, the National Law Journal reports.
The case, as the 7th Circuit noted in its 32-page opinion (PDF), “took a yo-yo path” through the judiciary, spanning 23 years, landing in the U.S. Supreme Court, and eventually surviving Kanter, who died in 2001. The NLJ notes that the ruling effectively wipes out about $15 million, plus interest, in tax deficiencies and civil penalties that the government claimed Kanter owed for his role in an alleged kickback scheme.
“The frustration is that it’s taken this many years to get to the point where all three taxpayers were completely vindicated,” said Richard Pildes, a New York University School of Law professor who represented Kanter’s survivors.
Last April, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog reported that Kanter’s chances of prevailing were good following a decision by the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that went in favor of one of Kanter’s co-defendants.
