Roger Stone Quit Paying His Taxes Because DEEP STATE

Don't try this one at home, kids.

(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Let’s stipulate from the outset that Roger Stone has already admitted he owes money to Uncle Sam. Donald Trump’s longtime buddy is currently howling about “politically motivated charges,” but in May of 2017, he entered into an agreement with the IRS to start chipping away at $1.5 million in unpaid taxes through monthly payments of $19,485.

It was only after he got indicted in 2019 for lying to Congress that he quit paying. That was right about the time he “sold” his personal residence to a family trust. Only the family trust had no assets, so it needed an infusion of cash from an LLC of which Stone, his wife, and his son were the only members and which the family used as a clearinghouse for personal bills.

DO YOU SEE THE PROBLEM HERE?

On Friday, the government sued Roger Stone and his wife Nydia in the Southern District of Florida claiming almost $2 million dollars in unpaid taxes and penalties, a suit which Stone was quick to characterize as harassment by evil Deep State Democrats.

“This is yet another example of the Democrats weaponizing the Justice Department in violation of the rule of law,” Stone said Friday night. “I will fight these politically motivated charges and I will prevail again.”

Which is a bit confusing, since the last time he “prevailed” by getting a presidential pardon after being convicted by a jury of his peers — and that option looks somewhat less likely today than it did a year ago.

Sponsored

But the government’s case isn’t at all confusing. Stone and his wife acknowledged the debt in May of 2017 and began making payments out of a Wells Fargo account in the name of Drake Ventures, LLC, of which Nydia Stone is the only member. They also deposited personal checks directly into the LLC and used the funds to pay “a substantial amount of their personal expenses, including groceries, dentist bills, spas, salons, clothing and restaurant expenses,” which may not be illegal, but it’s not going to win you any points if you’re trying to argue the LLC is a separate legal entity.

As the government writes:

There is a unity of interest between the Stones and Drake Ventures, which does not exist as a distinct entity. Rather, Drake Ventures exists as a vehicle to receive income that belongs to the Stones and pay their personal expenses. Indeed, the Stones treat Drake Ventures’ assets as their own.

In January of 2019, Stone was indicted for lying to Congress, and the couple faced mounting legal bills. At that point, they established the Bertran Family Revocable Trust, of which Nydia Stone is both the sole grantor and sole trustee. The Trust then secured a mortgage to purchase the Stone’s Fort Lauderdale condo using $140,000 transferred from the LLC as a down payment. The LLC also transferred $70,000 to the attorney handling the transfer.

The IRS characterizes this as a sham transaction, shuffling the Stones’ personal residence from one pocket to another in an effort to “shield their personal income from enforced collection and fund a lavish lifestyle despite owing nearly $2 million in unpaid taxes, interest and penalties.”

Sponsored

The Stones intended to defraud the United States by maintaining their assets in Drake Ventures’ accounts, which they completely controlled, and using these assets to purchase the Stone Residence in the name of the Bertran Trust.

If the government’s account is correct, the Stones’ conduct was pretty brazen. It’s hard to escape the conclusion that they put all their chips on executive action that would not only wipe out Roger Stone’s criminal perjury and witness tampering convictions, but expunge the couple’s tax liability as well.

And while Stone is yammering about weaponizing the Justice Department, there’s a strange reference to a release of the original lien on July 8, 2020, just two days before then-President Trump commuted his sentence.

On July 8, 2020, a Certificate of Release of Federal Tax Lien (file no. 2020 R 374146) and Revocation of Release of Federal Tax Lien (file no. 2020 R 374043) were filed in reference to the NFTL with file no. 2010 R 719422. On August 27, 2020, a Revocation of Release of Federal Tax Lien (file no. 2020 R 481201) were filed in reference to this NFTL.

You know, in case the Justice Department revoking its own sentencing recommendation after Bill Barr lost his shit wasn’t strange enough.

In the end, Stone got a full pardon in December of 2020 for all his convictions. But his old buddy Donald Trump failed to do anything about the tax case, so now the OG ratf*cker may be SOL.

You love to see it.

US v. Stone [Docket via Court Listener]


Elizabeth Dye (@5DollarFeminist) lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.