Tax Evasion

Stanley Needleman's 30-year law career officially came to an abrupt end Thursday when the criminal defense attorney pleaded guilty to tax evasion and agreed to pay more than $1 million in penalties. The plea came four months after agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration raided his downtown law office and Pikesville home, finding $1.15 million in unreported income inside two safes. Agents found a ledger detailing the cash payments from his legal clients, prosecutors said. "Any businessman who receives payments in cash faces the temptation to commit similar crimes — some fall to that temptation," said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein in an interview after the hearing.

A Baltimore criminal defense attorney has been charged in U.S. District Court with tax evasion and other financial crimes, according to records unsealed Tuesday, more than four months after his home and office were raided. Stanley Needleman, 69, is accused of "hoarding" $1.3 million in cash payments from criminal defense clients over a six-year period in order to conceal his income from the IRS. Needleman was charged by criminal information on Aug. 16. It is common for prosecutors to charge a person by criminal information if they expect the defendant to plead guilty.

I wrote a letter to Sen. Ben Cardin about Bono and U2 that The Sun recently published. The Sun then published a letter published from The Edge of U2 in response to my letter. I want to take this opportunity to correct and clarify the use of the phrase "tax evasion" in my letter, both for The Edge and your readers' benefit. My intention is not to accuse either U2 or individual band members of criminal tax evasion. My clarification and correction is that I am saying that they aligned their business interests with avoiding paying taxes, not criminal evasion.

The recent letter to the editor entitled, "Senator Cardin's affection for Bono's foundation is indefensible," (July 7) by Simon Moroney contains so many inaccuracies that it is pointless to attempt to correct them all. But the most serious inaccuracy is the totally false and possibly libelous accusation that U2 and Bono have, by moving a part of their business activities to Holland, been involved in tax evasion. For the record U2 and the individual band members have a totally clean record with every jurisdiction to which they are required to pay tax and have never been and will never be involved in tax evasion.

Sen. Benjamin Cardin's recent letter defending Bono and his ONE foundation puts him in direct opposition to President Obama's appeal for "corporate jet" owners to pay their fair share of tax ("Cardin: ONE Campaign works," June 27). U2 are major tax evaders. I am also perturbed by Senator Cardin's statement that Bono and the ONE campaign exercised significant influence on framing legislation in the financial services bill. Paul Hewson, aka Bono, exemplifies the worst characteristics of Wall Street, both for excess and tax evasion.

1974: Baltimore County Executive Dale Anderson, a Democrat, is convicted on 32 counts of extortion, conspiracy and tax evasion. 1974: Former Maryland Governor Spiro T. Agnew, a Republican, pleads "no contest" to charges of tax evasion while he was resigning as vice president of the United States. 1977: Democratic Gov. Marvin Mandel is convicted of mail fraud and racketeering. A decade later, his conviction was overturned by a federal judge. 1999: State Sen. Larry Young, West Baltimore Democrat, is acquitted of tax evasion and bribery.

Day 3 - and Hour 12 - of jury deliberations in Mayor Sheila Dixon's theft trial are scheduled to begin this morning, and the waiting will resume. "This has to be one of the most difficult periods in the mayor's life," said University of Maryland School of Law professor Douglas Colbert, who has been following proceedings closely. "For every defendant, every defense lawyer, the waiting is excruciating." But if history is a guide, it may be too soon to call these deliberations lengthy.

WASHINGTON - -House Republicans renewed a push Tuesday to end all federal funding of ACORN, an activist community organization that is under fire nationally for apparently giving advice on evading tax laws in Baltimore and other cities. The move followed a bipartisan Senate vote Monday evening that could block ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, from a major source of federal funds as early as next month. If the Republican-sponsored provision, approved with broad Democratic support, survives a House-Senate conference committee, various ACORN programs, including mortgage counseling and community development, would be ineligible for federal housing or transportation funds.