Message From Larken

Larken Rose larken@taxableincome.net 

As you may have heard, yesterday I was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison, and I have to turn myself in Monday to begin the sentence. We of course had hoped for better, but it could have been a lot worse. (Tessa's sentencing won't happen until February 15th.) 

I will be turning over this e-mail list to Tom Clayton. I hope to be able to mail him messages for him to e-mail to this list while I'm "inside." 

To try to minimize the harm to my family, I went back and filed returns for 1997 through 2004. In addition, the people who maintain the www.861.info, www.taxableincome.net, and www.theft-by-deception.com web sites have taken them down, in the hopes of improving my sentence. Judge Baylson made it clear on two occasions that the existence of those web sites, and the continued selling of my "Theft By Deception" video, would have made my sentence worse. 

As a result of filing returns and taking down the sites, the judge yesterday rejected the prosecution's request for a maximum sentence (which could have been as high as five years). He also dismissed the government's attempt to increase the sentence based on alleged perjury, which they requested based on the reasoning that if the jury didn't believe me, I must have lied on the stand. (Apparently this is not an unusual thing for the government to ask for, but interestingly, Judge Baylson had the same take on it that I did: that such a penalty amounts to punishing someone for taking the stand in his own defense.) For those rulings, I am grateful. 

What I believe about the correct interpretation and application of the law has NOT changed, and will not change unless and until someone presents me with EVIDENCE (not assertions) that I'm wrong. That certainly did not happen at trial, where neither the government nor the court had much to say about the issue, other than "frivolous." (Interestingly, at sentencing the government was obviously angry that I haven't recanted my BELIEFS, but Judge Baylson made it quite clear that I had a right to believe anything I want, and that he was not asking me to change my beliefs.) 

But the bottom line is that I feel like I have failed. I failed my family, and I failed all of you. I misjudged how a dozen "average" Americans would view the case, and would reach a verdict. 

At the moment we intend to appeal, but I'm not sure we can afford to, in light of what we're paying the IRS, what we've already paid in legal fees, and the $10,000 fine imposed by the court (as part of the sentence). Despite the much-appreciated generosity of those on this list, we ended up with remaining legal bills of between $10,000 and $20,000. (I had intended to give you all a precise, itemized list, but there are a lot of other things I have to do before Monday.) 

I guess what it comes down to is this: whether we can afford to appeal depends upon whether YOU think it's worth funding. The price tag could be as much as $40,000. (It would be filed by Peter Goldberger, well known across the country as an outstanding appeals attorney. In fact, the judge at sentencing twice commented on what a good attorney Mr. Goldberger is.) Split among 6,400 people (the number of people on this list), this would only come to $6.25 per person (though of course, in reality the number of people who contribute is always a fairly small percentage of those asked). 

But I also want to make a separate, more desperate, and more shameless (or shameful) plea to all of you. I cannot express how much it pains me to know the stress and pain that my efforts have brought upon my family. Tessa remains incredibly (and inexplicably) supportive, and even our daughter seems to be taking it as well as could be expected. (They plan on visiting a lot.) They don't deserve what's happening to them, and right now I don't really feel like I deserve their support. 

I have no right to ask any of you to try to help fix the problems I've caused for my family. But I'm going to anyway. I cannot praise Tessa enough, and to have her suffer for her courage and support is something I can't bear to imagine. To get to the point, I am unjustifiably begging each of you to please help financial support my amazing, precious wife while I'm in prison, so finances are one thing she doesn't need to worry about. I have fun imagining what would happen if each of you went hog-wild and donated $250, so Tessa would get $1.6 million (that even the IRS would know isn't taxable)! Of course, that won't happen, but any support you could give would be greatly appreciated. I can't bear to think of Tessa having financial problems while I'm in no position to help. Again, I have no right to ask, but I have to. 

Whether for legal expenses, or just to help Tessa out financially, contributions can be sent to the following. However, ALL DONATIONS SHOULD BE MADE TO "TESSA DAVID." (The money is not really for me, and I won't be around to sign checks anyway.) So you know, we will NOT be using donations to pay the alleged back taxes, or the fine imposed on me (or any that might be imposed on Tessa at her sentencing). We are already dealing with that ourselves by getting a home-equity loan. 

Contributions can be sent here: 

Tessa David c/o Larken Rose P.O. Box 653 Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006 

(If you prefer to make donations via PayPal, they can be sent to "larken@taxableincome.net") 

Tessa and I can't express how much all of your support, moral and financial, has helped us, and asking for MORE support is not what we were hoping we'd be doing at this point. Then again, neither was preparing to go to prison. This is the fate that resulted from my own choices, and I will deal with it as best I can. Thank you for all your support. 

Sincerely, 

Larken Rose larken@taxableincome.net 

(P.S. Very soon I will be publishing a book, unrelated to the tax issue, called "How to be a Successful Tyrant (The Megalomaniac Manifesto)." I think a lot of you will like it, and hopefully that will make some money for Tessa in a way other than shamelessly begging for handouts. We'll make sure you hear about the book when it's out.)

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