Expert Reveals How Far Government Will Go to Make Its Case
Jessica James knows what it feels like to be cornered.
“When the government decides they want to prosecute you, nothing will stand in their way,” said James, a pseudonym for the author of Justice for None (www.AuthorJessicaJames.com), an autobiographical novel about the government’s tactics in a tax fraud trial. James uses a pseudonym because she fears being targeted again. “It’s ironic, because I was just like everyone else who believed that we live in a free country and that we all have the same rights to fair legal proceedings. I discovered that it makes for a great Fourth of July greeting card, but in reality, if they want to get you, they’ll find a way.”
James was only a small target of a government probe a few years ago that included the IRS and the Department of Justice. As a CPA she prepared tax returns for clients referred by an organization that unbeknownst to her was under investigation by the government. She didn’t think she was in jeopardy.
“It’s not like I was some criminal mastermind,” she said. “Apparently, mere association with targeted parties of interest was enough for the government to pursue me in a way I didn’t even know possible.”
She said that when she was brought up on charges, she wasn’t even truly made aware of what they actually were until the government tried to cut a deal for her testimony.
“They keep you in the dark about what’s happening to you, and then they put you in a room and pressure you to take a deal that has you admitting guilt to things you never did,” she said. “But the way they manipulate you, you become convinced that the only way you’ll ever get out of it is to just sign what they put in front of you.”
In James’ case, she was pushed into a plea agreement in which she admitted to falsifying a single tax return, even though the expert tax witness in the trial testified that she did nothing wrong and performed the industry standard due diligence with regard to her work. Because the case was tried in criminal court and not tax court, that evidence carried no weight for the judge. She served 20 months in a detention camp, but as a result of her sentence, was still not barred from doing tax work in a professional capacity.
After her ordeal, she decided she would write about it as a warning to others who think they can take on the government and win.
“There is no way out once they’ve targeted you,” she said. “By that time, they’ve spent so many resources on the case, they have to come away with something. They have to put someone on trial or put someone in jail; otherwise, they look foolish. So, they railroad people and use their naiveté against them. It’s a travesty. We should all feel, as Americans, that we all live under the equal protection of the law. Unfortunately, for those poor souls who find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time, that protection suddenly becomes less equal than everyone else’s.”
About Jessica James
Jessica James is a pseudonym for an individual who was pursued and prosecuted by the U.S. government in a federal tax fraud case. Her story is fictionalized in the novel Justice for None.