Legal News

Tax evasion takes center stage in Hollywood civil suit

By Richard Binder

Hollywood tax lawyer Matthew Krane is suing his former client, entertainment industry billionaire Haim Saban, over a $36 million fee Krane was paid for referring Saban to an investment fund run by the Quellos Group. The suit charges Saban with attempting to get his hands on the $36 million, and in the process makes several provocative allegations.

According to the nine-page complaint, Krane states that Saban "spent decades trying to avoid paying taxes on the many billions of dollars in income he has received" and that the well-known Democratic fundraiser used political donations to "demand special treatment and favors."

For the past year, Krane has been sitting in a cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal holding facility in downtown Los Angeles. He faces federal charges over money laundering, conspiracy, as well as related charges of passport fraud and identity theft in what federal prosecutors have called one of the largest tax evasion schemes in U.S. history. It's from there that he's taken up his fight against Saban.

Read more about the fight at The American Lawyer.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on July 22, 2009 (boomark / email).