United States v. David C. Owen

15 F.3d 1528, 40 Fed. R. Serv. 220, 74 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5328, 1994 U.S. App. LEXIS 1259, 1994 WL 17451
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 24, 1994
Docket93-3149
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 15 F.3d 1528 (United States v. David C. Owen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. David C. Owen, 15 F.3d 1528, 40 Fed. R. Serv. 220, 74 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5328, 1994 U.S. App. LEXIS 1259, 1994 WL 17451 (10th Cir. 1994).

Opinion

ALDISERT, Circuit Judge.

In this appeal by David Owen from his conviction on two counts of subscribing to false tax returns in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1), we must decide whether there was sufficient evidence to support Owen’s conviction and whether the district court abused its discretion in ruling on certain evidence matters.

Jurisdiction was proper in the trial court based on 18 U.S.C. § 3231. This court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. The appeal was timely filed under Rule 4(b) of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure.

I.

On November 18, 1992, David Owen was indicted on two counts of filing false income tax returns. In Count I, he was charged with willfully subscribing to a federal income tax return for Owen & Associates, Inc. for the tax year ending December 31, 1986, which he knew to be false because the return understated total income and overstated total deductions. In Count II, he was charged with willfully subscribing to a federal income tax return for Eagle Distributors, Inc. for the same tax year, which he knew to be false because the return overstated business deductions. Each count charged him with a separate violation of Section 7206(1).

In the mid-1980’s, the Appellant formed several companies including Owen & Associates, a financial consulting enterprise designed to assist new and expanding companies and Eagle Distributors, a company created to purchase products for EDP Enterprises, a food service management company. Owen was the sole employee, stockholder and president of both companies.

*1531 In addition to his diverse business interests, Owen was involved in Kansas politics for many years. He was elected to the Kansas state senate in 1968 and, in 1972, was elected lieutenant governor. He made an unsuccessful bid for governor in 1982.

Owen was also active in the campaigns of other Republican candidates running for office in Kansas, including Mike Hayden’s 1986 campaign for governor. His support of Hayden’s campaign gave rise to his unfortunate difficulties with the Internal Revenue Service.

A.

Count I charged that Owen understated income and overstated business deductions in his company’s income tax return. It alleged that Owen disguised political contributions to the Hayden campaign as business expenses and that these were improper deductions.

1.

Owen & Associates listed the sum of $5,000 as a consulting fee payable to Amvestors Marketing, a company formed by the Appellant to market single-premium life insurance policies and annuities through securities firms. The indictment charged that this payment from Owen & Associates was actually a reimbursement for contributions made to the Hayden campaign by Richard Halford, president of Amvestors, and his wife, as well as Elliott Kaplan, attorney for Amvestors, and his wife and Amvestors generally. 1 Testimony at trial revealed that Amvestors had not performed any consulting work for Owen & Associates.

On October 14, 1986, a $3,000 contribution to the Hayden campaign was made by Eagle, and on the following day, Owen & Associates paid Eagle $3,000. This payment was represented in the accounting records as a refund of consulting fees paid to Eagle by Owen & Associates.

An identical transaction took place in the same two day period between Kansas Microwave Inc., the Hayden campaign and Owen & Associates. The Appellant managed the affairs of Kansas Microwave, a company formed to design and build electronics. Kansas Microwave was located in the same office complex as Owen & Associates, Amvestors and Eagle.

2.

Part of the understatement of income charge in Count I of the indictment concerned business dealings between the Appellant and Paul Bryant Jr., president of AIM, Inc. In the early summer of 1986, Owen assisted Bryant in obtaining parimutuel racetrack licenses in two Kansas cities. On October 14, 1986, Bryant met with the Appellant and paid him $100,000. This sum became a source of great controversy between Owen and the IRS.

Owen testified that he believed the $100,-000 was a loan, given to him pursuant to an oral agreement that he would receive a fee of 15 per cent of the race track’s income if and when Bryant received a racing license. He said that he believed that he would have to pay the money back from his percentage of the racetrack’s income. Bryant testified to the contrary at trial, stating that he gave the money to Owen to maintain his standard of living.

On October 15, 1986, Owen deposited the $100,000 into Owen & Associates’ bank account. It was not reported as income on the 1986 corporate tax return. He testified that over a year later, on January 27,1988, during a meeting between him, his tax attorney and Bryant’s attorney, it was decided that the $100,000 would not have to be repaid to Bryant. They agreed that it was income, and consequently it was reported as such on Owen & Associates’ 1988 corporate tax return. Significantly, the money was not reported on the 1986 return, the year in which the money was received.

B.

Count II of the indictment charged that Eagle’s 1986 corporate tax return overstated *1532 total deductions by $3,000. The government alleged a kind of Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance transaction involving Owen-dominated business entities. It began with a contribution by Eagle to the Hayden campaign on October 14,1986 and was followed by a check in the identical amount from Owen & Associates to Eagle. Two months later, on December 17, 1986, Eagle issued a $3,000 check to Financial Service Investment Company, a partnership in which Owen had a 52 per cent interest. Eagle’s records show this as a rent/storage expense.

At trial, the government showed that Eagle had no products or equipment to store. Eagle merely ordered products for EDP Enterprises and had them shipped directly to EDP’s facility in Missouri. It was the government’s theory that the original $3,000 payment from Owen & Associates to Eagle was actually a reimbursement for the contribution it made to the Hayden campaign and that the December payment to Financial Service was intended to eliminate Eagle’s taxable income as a result of the reimbursement by Owen & Associates. It was Owen’s defense that he and John Palmer, president of EDP, had discussed the rental of a structure because some of EDP’s suppliers wanted to ship directly to Eagle. Owen testified that Eagle’s $3,000 check to Financial was to secure a storage facility in the event it became necessary for Eagle to store goods.

II.

The Appellant was tried before a jury and was found guilty on both counts of the indictment.

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Bluebook (online)
15 F.3d 1528, 40 Fed. R. Serv. 220, 74 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5328, 1994 U.S. App. LEXIS 1259, 1994 WL 17451, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-david-c-owen-ca10-1994.