Woman Who Bragged That She Was 'The Queen Of Tax Fraud' On Facebook Gets 21 Years In Jail

from the seriously,-stop-breeding dept

The stupid never seems to stop when it comes to dumb criminals. Whether it's accidentally dialing 911 during their murder-plotting or jumping on YouTube to make sure grandma knows what a great little bank-robber you are, there's just something about these criminals that make them go internet stupid. How else could you explain when these guys bilk money out of companies and governments, then jump on Twitter to taunt the authorities? Criminals, by and large, are stupid.

"Go in after them? No, no, we just wait outside until they come stumbling out looking for a bathroom."
Image source: CC BY 2.0

Well, let's put another one up on our wall of jack-ass-ery, shall we? Meet Rashia Wilson of Tampa, Florida. Rashia is the self-proclaimed "queen of IRS tax fraud." And she self-proclaimed this everywhere, including on her very personal Facebook page which had her very verifiable name splashed all over it. And, I have to admit, Rashia was very good at IRS tax fraud.

Prosecutors have said Wilson was among the most brazen thieves to commit identity theft tax refund fraud in Tampa. In 2011, she boasted to be Tampa's "queen of IRS tax fraud" in a Facebook post while stealing as much as $20 million, according to court documents.

A prosecutor said Wilson used the money stolen from taxpayers for "personal greed and glorification." Wilson bought a $90,000 car and a $30,000 birthday party for her 1-year-old daughter with the money, according to court documents.

See? Really good. What she was less good at was keeping that hidden. After brazenly posting about how awesome at crime she was on Facebook, the authorities came more quickly than...no, you know what? I'm not going to make that joke. They just got her, okay?

In any case, faced with 22 years in the clink, Rashia pleaded guilty and then wrote the court an apology letter and begged for leniency. The judge obliged, knocking a whole year off and saddling her with a measly 21 years in the federal pen. Nicely done, Rashia Wilson! Enjoy your stay!

Filed Under: bragging, criminals, irs, rashia wilson, social media, tax fraud

Double Standards: EU Commissioner De Gucht Is 'Innocent Until Proven Guilty'; EU Citizens Are 'Guilty Until Proven Innocent'

from the one-law-for-the-rich,-one-law-for-the-poor dept

The Belgian EU Commissioner Karel De Gucht is the driving force behind ACTA, and is apparently really keen to combat crimes like counterfeiting and piracy. It also seems he has a slight problem with the tax authorities:

Belgium’s Tax Inspection Service has accused European Commissioner Karel De Gucht of tax fraud. The service says that Mr De Gucht and his wife failed to declare the profit that they made on the sale of shares of the Vista group on which tax was due.

"Politician accused of tax fraud" is hardly news; but what is more interesting is the European Commission's reaction. Here's what it said according to the Dutch language version of the story on the site quoted above:

The Commission adds to this that De Gucht "not guilty until proven to the contrary."

Of course, you might say; after all, surely everyone is innocent until proven guilty? In fact, no:

A Party may provide, in accordance with its laws and regulations, its competent authorities with the authority to order an online service provider to disclose expeditiously to a right holder information sufficient to identify a subscriber whose account was allegedly used for infringement

Note the word "allegedly" -- not much presumption of innocence there when your details must be disclosed "expeditiously." That comes from Article 27 of ACTA, currently being pushed by the European Commission with all its might in a desperate attempt to get it ratified by the European Parliament next month.

So on the one hand, we have someone who allegedly failed to declare profits of 1.2 million euros (about $1.5 million), and who must be assumed innocent; while on the other, we have someone who allegedly infringes on someone's copyright -- perhaps by sharing a single mp3 file -- and who, by contrast, is assumed guilty. Double standards much, European Commission?

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Filed Under: acta, belgium, european commission, karel de gucht, tax fraud