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Former IRS CID Special Agent Joseph
Banister Acquitted of Tax Fraud And Conspiracy
Government Unable To Prove U.S. Law Requires Income Tax
Withholding or Filing
Sacramento California -- On Thursday June 23, a federal jury
found former IRS Criminal Investigative Division (CID) Special
Agent and CPA Joseph Banister not guilty of all counts
alleging criminal tax fraud and conspiracy related to actions
he took on behalf of a California business owner who had
openly defied the IRS over several years by stopping
withholding of all income and employment taxes from the
paychecks of his workers.
During the trial the Department of Justice was unable to put
forth any evidence that Banister had either engaged in a
conspiracy or had acted unlawfully when he shared legal
research with business owner Al Thompson concluding that he
had no legal obligation to withhold taxes from his workers or
when he (Banister) prepared corrected tax returns for Thompson
claiming his taxable income was, under U.S. law, zero.
During the trial, Banister's former supervisor at IRS's San
Jose CID office, Robert Gorini (who testified via video
recording) when pointedly asked, was unable to cite any U.S.
law that required Banister to pay income taxes.
Banister, who was forced to resign in 1999, gave Thompson's
worker's a presentation in 2000 which reviewed his detailed
investigative research of U.S. tax law which concluded that
not only did the IRS lack any authority to impose income taxes
on the workers, but there was no legal requirement for the
business to withhold any taxes from the worker's paychecks.
Banister is part of a nationwide effort seeking to force the
U.S. Government to respond to a series of detailed legal
Petitions for Redress of Grievances directly challenging the
authority of the IRS. Last summer, the We The People
Foundation initiated a landmark lawsuit with 2000 plaintiffs
against the government because it has refused to answer the
Petitions.
The Right-To-Petition lawsuit, of which Banister is a
plaintiff, is the first time in history that U.S. courts have
been asked to define the meaning of the final ten words of the
First Amendment.
Court documents for the RTP lawsuit and scholarly research
regarding the Right to Petition can be downloaded from the
Lawsuit Information Center on www.GiveMeLiberty.org.
Following the verdict, Banister was greeted by a throng of WTP
supporters and members of his family.
Tomorrow, WTP will publish additional details of this
important news and stream video of post-verdict interviews of
Banister & several of the jurors.
Support Joe Banister:
Read the May 27th WTP update, "Get Pinned"
Order a WTP Freedom Pin
Provide further support in helping fund the legal costs of the
Right-To-Petition lawsuit and the criminal defense of former
IRS CID Special Agent Joseph Banister.
We The People Foundation For Constitutional Education
2458 Ridge Road, Queensbury, New York 12804
http://givemeliberty.org/
To send an email to Bob Schulz, click here:
mailto:bob@givemeliberty.org
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