Airport Owner may go to Jail

Gary F said:
I am sure that people have been sent to jail for much less.
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I'm sure that they have but that doesn't mean I agree with it.

Gary F said:
He might do time in a cushy federal prison.
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That's going to cost a lot more than wearing an ankle bracelet.

Gary F said:
I would deduct the cost of incarcerating him from the money he had stashed.
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He's going to pay $2M in fines which is what is left in that bank account.

I have agreed to pay a fine of over $2 million, which is essentially what was left in the account after the most recent market decline.
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Gary F said:
I have a hard time being too sympathetic in this case.
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Me too, but there is that cost/benefit question.
 
The fundamental & pragmatic question is....

what is the benefit to
1) Tom
2) other tenants at the airport
3) the airport itself

if the judge is lenient vs giving him the max sentence?
 
Is it Ironic that according to the newspaper report the airport owner plead guilty on December 17th. A date I think should be a holiday and not because my grandfather was born on December 17, 1903.
 
Everskyward said:
That's going to cost a lot more than wearing an ankle bracelet.
He's going to pay $2M in fines which is what is left in that bank account.
Me too, but there is that cost/benefit question.
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$2M should cover a year or two in Federal prison. I might prefer a year in Federal prison over 2 or more years of house arrest so an ankle bracelet might be adequate punishment if the sentence is long enough. It appears that this issue is more complicated than I initially thought. I think that Obi Heed Kenobi would be a good judge.
 
Gary F said:
$2M should cover a year or two in Federal prison. I might prefer a year in Federal prison over 2 or more years of house arrest so an ankle bracelet might be adequate punishment if the sentence is long enough. It appears that this issue is more complicated than I initially thought. I think that Obi Heed Kenobi would be a good judge.
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Two things to remember he is near 75 years old, and is very slippery.

his money maker is "International Tellcom". he can run every thing he owns from home.
 
Gary F said:
$2M should cover a year or two in Federal prison. I might prefer a year in Federal prison over 2 or more years of house arrest so an ankle bracelet might be adequate punishment if the sentence is long enough. It appears that this issue is more complicated than I initially thought. I think that Obi Heed Kenobi would be a good judge.
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You're just saying that because I don't do medmal! ;) :yes:
 
Gary F said:
That's what makes you a good lawyer. If I ever get dragged into your court and you are the judge, I would feel that I am getting a fair shake.
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As long as you felt the same way walking out! :)

But, in all seriousness, thank you very much for that compliment.
 
To Mr. Eisenberg I say, can't do the time, don't do the crime. Suck it up cupcake. Don't bend over in the shower.


I have little sympathy for tax cheats. I pay everything I owe, and that's a lot. This guy tried pulling a fast one and got caught. "Twilight of my life?" HAH!!! I hear the sunset looks really nice reflecting off concertina.
 
wabower said:
The offshore tax thing isn't quite as cut-and-dried as it might appear. About 10 years ago somebody (or somebodies) figured out a way to stash offshore money that appeared to meet the IRS rules. Many investment firms set up separate offshore entities (as we did) to legally invest these funds, although only after obtaining copious amounts of disclosures, disclaimers, hold-harmless and indemnifications from clients.

The IRS later ruled that the interpretation was incorrect and started pursuing those who had used it, as well as others who had simply ignored the rules. Somewhere along the line somebody blew the whistle on a bunch of Swiss accounts owned by U. S. citizens and entities, and the previously tight-lipped banks became more cooperative.

If the guy got caught up in a bogus tax-shelter that he thought was legit, that's a point in his favor. If he was simply skating, the points go the other way.
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UBS Bank for years have been advising their clients to do this, and with all the Swiss Bank laws, the IRS couldn't do a dang thing about it.

Well, along comes the financial crisis and TARP...seems the UBS branches in the states needed some cash...so they forced the Swiss to open up their books.

They gave everybody a year to come clean without jail time, just have to pay the back taxes and interest. UBS Wealth Managers continued to tell their clients not to come forward, as the IRS couldn't know what was going on because the Swiss Branches wouldn't turn over such information. Guess what? They were wrong.

They are going to throw the book at this guy and everybody else....because as he said, they want to prove a point. If you hide money in Switzerland or the Caymens, the IRS will eventually find out.

The horse crap thing is, the US is the only country that taxes wealth that you keep outside of the country. In a lot of ways, our tax laws are worse than Europe. If I'm European and make passive income in Switzerland, I pay Swiss taxes, I'm OK...not so here.

Does this guy deserve jail? Not in my mind. Will he get jail time? You better believe it. They want gray haired old men going to jail to scare other gray hair old men to come clean. Jack booted thugs....
 
As my B Law professor once pointed out, there is tax avoidance, and there is tax evasion. Tax avoidance, he said, is every American's patriotic duty. Tax evasion, however, is illegal.

He was evading. He got caught. Good. I play by the rules and I am angered by those who don't. I may not like the rules, but until enough people vote to change them them's the rules I play by. Gray hair, brown hair, no hair -- makes no difference to me.
 
flyersfan31 said:
He was evading. He got caught. Good. I play by the rules and I am angered by those who don't. I may not like the rules, but until enough people vote to change them them's the rules I play by. Gray hair, brown hair, no hair -- makes no difference to me.
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*This* case is unique, but one HUGE problem is even knowing when you are "following the rules."

We had our first audit 4 years ago (wife had small, home-based business so up went the flags at IRS-land).

There are plenty of rules that are unclear enough that even the IRS folks aren't sure about.
 
Reminds me of a benefit concert several years ago to help Willie Nelson pay several hundred thousand (maybe millions, I don't remember) in income tax.
I would not write a letter or donate even one penny to help this airport owner or Wille out.
 
dmccormack said:
*This* case is unique, but one HUGE problem is even knowing when you are "following the rules."

We had our first audit 4 years ago (wife had small, home-based business so up went the flags at IRS-land).

There are plenty of rules that are unclear enough that even the IRS folks aren't sure about.
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I agree but it looks like this guy was simply trying to hide money from the IRS. The Judge will try to decide if this was the case. If he had bad advice from his tax lawyer he might get to sue him or her for legal malpractice. If he had millions in offshore accounts and no tax lawyer then he was asking for this.
 
I think everyone knew about the amnesty the IRS offered -it was widely broadcast in the news that if you reported such accounts early, no penalty.....up until a certain date. There was plenty of notice given.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I think everyone knew about the amnesty the IRS offered -it was widely broadcast in the news that if you reported such accounts early, no penalty.....up until a certain date. There was plenty of notice given.
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I remember that- I wished I had money stashed away that I needed amnesty!
 
dmccormack said:
*This* case is unique, but one HUGE problem is even knowing when you are "following the rules."

We had our first audit 4 years ago (wife had small, home-based business so up went the flags at IRS-land).

There are plenty of rules that are unclear enough that even the IRS folks aren't sure about.
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Anyone with more than $10 in the bank knew about this one. The funny thing, to me, is that the nitwit didn't realize that Swiss secrecy laws had already been greatly relaxed relative to banking as part of the international fight against money-laundering. You can't really, legally, hide anything anywhere except Nauru and maybe the Isle of Man.

Ah well, I hope he enjoys fried Spam.:thumbsup:
 
You can't really, legally, hide anything anywhere except Nauru and maybe the Isle of Man.
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So true! I had the IRS guy sniffing around my mattress just last week!
 
I think he should buy this before reporting to the big house!

-Lloyd Bonafide
Korean War Veteran
 
Tom-D said:
that brings up a pretty good point, if he weren't trying to dodge the taxes why did he hide his money off shore?
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Different rates and opportunities for the money. There's more to foreign accounts than tax dodges, but, most of them are.

As to the letter writing, it depends on what he was like. Do what you think is right. If it was someone who had done right by me, I would write that. Unless he treated me in an egregiously bad manner though I would not write against him.
 
>> Eisenberg admitted that he failed to disclose on a tax return he filed in December 2005 that he had financial accounts at UBS in Switzerland.

Ok, I'm looking at the 1040. One has to report interest earned, sure. Where does one report the *existence* of an account?
 
PaulMillner said:
>> Eisenberg admitted that he failed to disclose on a tax return he filed in December 2005 that he had financial accounts at UBS in Switzerland.

Ok, I'm looking at the 1040. One has to report interest earned, sure. Where does one report the *existence* of an account?
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Isn't taxes due upon interest earned any where?

IRS doesn't care what bank paid the interest, as long as the tax is paid.
 
Gary F said:
$2M should cover a year or two in Federal prison. I might prefer a year in Federal prison over 2 or more years of house arrest so an ankle bracelet might be adequate punishment if the sentence is long enough. It appears that this issue is more complicated than I initially thought. I think that Obi Heed Kenobi would be a good judge.
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What prison do you think he's going to go to? You think any prison is a good experience? "Club Fed is for Billionaires, not Millionaires... Terminal Island FP used to house the same guys, mid level tax violators and postal fraud/ grifters. Been there a few times on business, and from what I saw it was a prison. Maybe not Pelican Bay type inmates, but it was a prison.
 
Henning said:
What prison do you think he's going to go to? You think any prison is a good experience? "Club Fed is for Billionaires, not Millionaires... Terminal Island FP used to house the same guys, mid level tax violators and postal fraud/ grifters. Been there a few times on business, and from what I saw it was a prison. Maybe not Pelican Bay type inmates, but it was a prison.
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Sure, sure.
 
Tom-D said:
Two things to remember he is near 75 years old, and is very slippery.

his money maker is "International Tellcom". he can run every thing he owns from home.
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Is it in your best interest to limit his future ability to make an income? Do you not want him to build the new hangars? Are you trying to leverage the airport away from him? I'm not understanding the motivation... If you want to gain control of the airport and run him off, then yeah, throw him under the bus and you can probably form a community group that can buy or lease the place for pennies on the dollar in monthly payments to his prison canteen account.
 
Henning said:
Is it in your best interest to limit his future ability to make an income? Do you not want him to build the new hangars?

The Hangars are a carrot, they will never get built. It's a long story but it has been tried by better people than Eisenberg. ( its a building permit thing with wet lands involved) He has a long history of promising stuff he can't deliver


Are you trying to leverage the airport away from him?

I have no interest in owning the airport or I would have bought the first along time ago. at .05 cents on the dollar.

I'm not understanding the motivation... If you want to gain control of the airport and run him off, then yeah, throw him under the bus and you can probably form a community group that can buy or lease the place for pennies on the dollar in monthly payments to his prison canteen account.
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No one smart enough to have the money would ever try paying off both mortgages, the first with interest and penalties, is worth more than the airport, and the second is near the value of the land alone.

The only connection I have with Eisenberg is I have a verbal agreement to mow the grass in exchange for rent on my hangar. So far he has honored that agreement because he knows it is a very good deal for him.



.
 
Tom-D said:
No one smart enough to have the money would ever try paying off both mortgages, the first with interest and penalties, is worth more than the airport, and the second is near the value of the land alone.

The only connection I have with Eisenberg is I have a verbal agreement to mow the grass in exchange for rent on my hangar. So far he has honored that agreement because he knows it is a very good deal for him.
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Well then I still don't know where your interest lies. If he goes to prison, there will most likely end up being foreclosure proceeding coming in the near future. I have no idea what the market is there for the property, so have no way of even having an idea of who may want the property for how much, and if you will be allowed to maintain tenancy there while the issues are worked out. Do you have any idea or have you heard anything about any future scenarios? Does anyone there have "a plan" for the airports future as an airport? I also have no idea what the current owners intentions for the property are, did he buy it because he wants to have an airport? If he has honored your deal on the hangar for the lawn mowing (I'm guessing you wrote the deal) and hasn't done anything untoward to you personally, then if I was you I'd take a few minutes to write a letter in his behalf. I judge people on my experience with them, not on other peoples.

If he is 75 now, there is a good chance he will die in prison.
 
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Henning said:
Well then I still don't know where your interest lies.

All I want is for the airport to stay an airport. that's it for me.

If he goes to prison, there will most likely end up being foreclosure proceeding coming in the near future. I have no idea what the market is there for the property, so have no way of even having an idea of who may want the property for how much, and if you will be allowed to maintain tenancy there while the issues are worked out. Do you have any idea or have you heard anything about any future scenarios? Does anyone there have "a plan" for the airports future as an airport? I also have no idea what the current owners intentions for the property are, did he buy it because he wants to have an airport? If he has honored your deal on the hangar for the lawn mowing (I'm guessing you wrote the deal) and hasn't done anything untoward to you personally, then if I was you I'd take a few minutes to write a letter in his behalf. I judge people on my experience with them, not on other peoples.

If he is 75 now, there is a good chance he will die in prison.
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Basically this has been a 15 year Pizzing contest between to old rich guys at our expense. the way it stands today it is a stale mate between the two.
 
Does anyone know what became of Arthur Joel Eisenberg? The last I read was that he got probation instead of jail.
 
Your first post is regarding a 7 year old necropost?
 
Sure, it's my first post . . . because I am interested in what became of the airport and the owner. The thread may be in 2011, what happened will live on.
 
Don't sweat it; some folks don't like necro.

Others are ok with it...
 
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