United States v. Stubbs

Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit·Decided February 26, 2019·No. 17-1373·Unpublished

Opinion

FILED

United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT February 26, 2019

Elisabeth A. Shumaker

Clerk of Court

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff - Appellee,

v. No. 17-1373 (D.C. No. 1:13-CR-00439-CMA-1)

TIMOTHY J. STUBBS, (D. Colo.)

Defendant - Appellant.

ORDER AND JUDGMENT*

Before BRISCOE, MORITZ, and EID, Circuit Judges.

After a jury convicted Timothy John Stubbs of two counts of tax evasion in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201 and six counts of failure to file personal and corporate income tax returns in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7203, the district court sentenced him to 88 months’ imprisonment. Through counsel, Stubbs now appeals from both his convictions and his sentences. Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742(a), we affirm.

*

After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously to honor the parties’ request for a decision on the briefs without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(f); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore submitted without oral argument. This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1.

BACKGROUND

Stubbs was the owner and sole shareholder of National Rebate Fund, Inc., also known as National Energy Rebate Fund, Inc. (NRF). NRF sold businesses such as home-improvement companies the opportunity to offer rebates to their customers. Say, for example, a window company proposed to sell a homeowner new windows for $10,000. That company could sweeten the deal by offering the homeowner the chance to file for a rebate of, say, 50% of the purchase. The company would pay NRF a fee plus 15% of the rebate amount (in this example, the potential rebate would be $5,000, and so the company would pay NRF the fee plus $750) and give its customer, the homeowner, the rebate forms. It would be the homeowner’s responsibility to file for the rebate.

NRF’s profit allegedly came from the “slippage” between the total number of customers eligible for rebates and the much smaller number who successfully completed the requirements. The rebate opportunity carried extremely stringent rules: customers had to register the rebate within 17 days of receiving the form; they had to send forms by registered mail only; they had to claim the rebate within the 30 days after the 47th month from the purchase; and the rebate offer would be invalid if anyone other than NRF, such as the company from which they got the rebate forms, reminded them about the deadlines. NRF set aside only a small portion of the revenues it received to pay rebates. And although the rebate program ostensibly was administered by an independent third party, that administration company actually was connected to Stubbs. Apparently, some customers received rebates, but numerous

customers who failed to strictly satisfy each and every condition were denied rebates. NRF and its activities were the subject of civil lawsuits brought by Wisconsin and Colorado on behalf of their citizens, which resulted in multi-million-dollar default judgments against Stubbs.

Stubbs elected for NRF to be an S corporation. As an S corporation, NRF still had to file a tax return, but it did not itself pay tax. Instead, its shareholders (e.g., Stubbs) were responsible for paying tax on NRF’s income. For tax years 2005, 2006, and 2007, NRF earned a total of approximately $7 million in gross revenue, with a net income of nearly $1.8 million. Stubbs’ total individual income was approximately $2.1 million, upon which a total of $639,114 in taxes were due. But neither NRF nor Stubbs filed tax returns for those years. Nor did Stubbs pay any income tax for those years. In fact, Stubbs had neither filed income tax returns nor paid income tax since 1993.

Stubbs represented himself at trial. He did not contest that he failed to file tax returns and pay income tax for 2005, 2006, and 2007. Instead, he raised a good-faith defense. He testified that in 1993, it was brought to his attention that the Fourteenth Amendment was not properly ratified, that he was not actually a United States citizen, that the IRS is not an agency of the United States government, and that the Federal Reserve is not part of the United States government but is a privately held bank. He researched on the Internet and began reading books such as Irwin Schiff’s How Anyone Can Stop Paying Income Taxes. “And the culmination of that has been that to this very moment, until the day I die, I understand that I am not a person [as

defined by the Internal Revenue Code], but that I am a man, and I am not subject to this jurisdiction that they are claiming over me[.]” R., Vol. 8 at 300. He described his avenues of research and his communications with the IRS, and concluded, “it’s just my heartfelt belief that I have not done anything wrong; that I am not a person required to file. . . . And that is just where I am coming from, and that has been my belief.” Id. at 306.

On cross-examination, the prosecutor brought up tax returns for 2002 and 2003 that Stubbs had prepared and submitted to Bank of America in support of an application for a mortgage loan—tax returns that Stubbs had never filed, but that reflected income and inaccurately stated that Stubbs had paid taxes on that income. She asked Stubbs why he submitted those returns to the bank if he did not believe he had a duty to file. Stubbs asserted his Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination. The district court initially upheld the privilege. After a sidebar conference and a short recess, however, the district court held that by testifying on direct examination about his good-faith beliefs, Stubbs had waived his Fifth Amendment privilege as to any questions that related to impeaching those beliefs. Stubbs then answered the prosecution’s questions, reiterating that he believed he was not required to pay income tax. He further conceded that he did not avail himself of many readily available resources that would have undermined or contradicted his beliefs. For example, he did not consult the IRS website, did not learn that Schiff had been convicted of income tax evasion three times, did not search for information

that would discredit his interpretations, and did not speak to any licensed attorney or accountant about his beliefs.

The jury found Stubbs guilty of tax evasion for tax years 2006 (Count 1) and 2007 (Count 2). It further found Stubbs guilty of failing to file corporate tax returns for tax years 2005, 2006, and 2007 (Counts 3, 4, and 5) and failing to file personal income tax returns for those same tax years (Counts 6, 7, and 8).

The district court allowed Stubbs to remain free on conditions pending sentencing. Two weeks before his scheduled sentencing hearing, he fled to Costa Rica, where he had resided before being indicted in this case. Some sixteen months later, he was deported from Costa Rica, arrested, and returned for sentencing.

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