Conspiracy Nuts Lose In Court

[Galileo Galilei]

Conspiracy Nuts Lose In Court

Helio Castroneves found not guilty of tax evasion

April 18, 2009

Brazilian race car driver and "Dancing With The Stars" champ Helio Castroneves was acquitted Friday of most charges that he worked with his sister and lawyer to evade more than $2.3 million in U.S. income taxes.

A federal jury in Miami acquitted Castroneves, 33, on six counts of tax evasion but was hung on one count of conspiracy.

The jury also acquitted Katiucia Castroneves, her brother's business manager, on the tax-evasion counts but also hung on the conspiracy charge. Michigan motorsports attorney Alan Miller, 71, was acquitted on all counts against him.

Castroneves said he planned to leave right away for Los Angeles, where he will race for Team Penske in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Owner Roger Penske welcomed Castroneves back to the team.

"Penske Racing is very happy for Helio Castroneves and his family following today's verdict," Penske said in a statement. ... "Penske Racing is pleased and excited to have Helio in the No. 3 Team Penske car at this weekend's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach."

http://www.freep.com/article/20090418/SPORTS18/904180362/1217/SPORTS/Helio+Castroneves+found+not+guilty+of+tax+evasion

More Details of Case:

http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=capress-auto_castroneves_charges-164174326&prov=capress&type=lgns

Comments:

* Castroneves faced over 6 years in prison, if convicted.

* The case could have been settled in the civil courts, instead of a grandstanding prosecutor trying to get a criminal conviction on tax day.

* The people who have accussed Castroneves are conspiracy wackos. It's funny, how when the government has a conspiracy theory, the media does not call them conspiracy theorists.

* The Feds think that if you try to save money on your taxes, then you are in on a conspiracy.

Given that Castroneves has won the Indianapolis 500 autorace (twice), the Dancing With the Stars competition (once), and the rarity of jury acquittels in federal courts, you would think this jury verdict would have gotten more new coverage.

I can guarantee you had Castroneves been convicted, there would have been ten times more news coverage.

Castroneves deserved our support, as his name has been dragged through the mud during a six-week trial.

The feds have it easy, when they lose a trial, they don't have to go to jail or pay the taxpayers back to money they wasted.

"If any one ensnare another, putting a ban upon him, but he can not prove it, then he that ensnared him shall be put to death!"

Code of Hammurabi - Law # 1

http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/CODE.HTM

[Galileo Galilei]

Conspiracy Nuts Lose In Court

Helio Castroneves found not guilty of tax evasion

April 18, 2009

Brazilian race car driver and "Dancing With The Stars" champ Helio Castroneves was acquitted Friday of most charges that he worked with his sister and lawyer to evade more than $2.3 million in U.S. income taxes.

A federal jury in Miami acquitted Castroneves, 33, on six counts of tax evasion but was hung on one count of conspiracy.

The jury also acquitted Katiucia Castroneves, her brother's business manager, on the tax-evasion counts but also hung on the conspiracy charge. Michigan motorsports attorney Alan Miller, 71, was acquitted on all counts against him.

Castroneves said he planned to leave right away for Los Angeles, where he will race for Team Penske in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Owner Roger Penske welcomed Castroneves back to the team.

"Penske Racing is very happy for Helio Castroneves and his family following today's verdict," Penske said in a statement. ... "Penske Racing is pleased and excited to have Helio in the No. 3 Team Penske car at this weekend's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach."

http://www.freep.com/article/20090418/SPORTS18/904180362/1217/SPORTS/Helio+Castroneves+found+not+guilty+of+tax+evasion

More Details of Case:

http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=capress-auto_castroneves_charges-164174326&prov=capress&type=lgns

Comments:

* Castroneves faced over 6 years in prison, if convicted.

* The case could have been settled in the civil courts, instead of a grandstanding prosecutor trying to get a criminal conviction on tax day.

* The people who have accussed Castroneves are conspiracy wackos. It's funny, how when the government has a conspiracy theory, the media does not call them conspiracy theorists.

* The Feds think that if you try to save money on your taxes, then you are in on a conspiracy.

Given that Castroneves has won the Indianapolis 500 autorace (twice), the Dancing With the Stars competition (once), and the rarity of jury acquittels in federal courts, you would think this jury verdict would have gotten more new coverage.

I can guarantee you had Castroneves been convicted, there would have been ten times more news coverage.

Castroneves deserved our support, as his name has been dragged through the mud during a six-week trial.

The feds have it easy, when they lose a trial, they don't have to go to jail or pay the taxpayers back to money they wasted.

"If any one ensnare another, putting a ban upon him, but he can not prove it, then he that ensnared him shall be put to death!"

Code of Hammurabi - Law # 1

http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/CODE.HTM

GO Castroneves!! He is winning the Indianapolis 500!!!!

[Galileo Galilei]

Heliocentrism ROCKS!!

[Galileo Galilei]

Helio Castroneves WINS HIS THIRD INDY 500! Down with the IRS!!

THREE-TIME Indianapolis 500 winners

A. J. Foyt, Al Unser, Sr., Rick Mears, Louis Meyer, Wilbur Shaw, Mauri Rose, Johnny Rutherford, Bobby Unser, Helio Castroneves

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Indy_500_winners

[AutoDas]

Good for you Galileo.

[Galileo Galilei]

Good for you Galileo.

MORE GOOD NEWS:

What a month: Castroneves wins his third Indy 500

By PAUL NEWBERRY, AP National Writer 15 minutes ago

INDIANAPOLIS (AP)—Pumping his fist as he took the checkered flag and breaking down in tears when he was done, Helio Castroneves capped a perfect month of May with the biggest win of all Sunday at the Indianapolis 500.

Castroneves became the ninth driver to win the historic race three times, and his timing couldn’t have been better. Just 5 1/2 weeks ago, he was aquitted of most charges at a federal tax evasion trial, and the remaining count was thrown out on Friday.

Instead of going to prison for as long as six years, Castroneves pulled his red-and-white machine into Victory Lane at the Brickyard. No wonder he was sobbing when team owner Roger Penske leaned in to give him a hug.

“Thanks for giving my life back,” the 34-year-old Brazilian told his boss, who earned his record 15th win at Indy.

Castroneves completed a clean sweep of every Indy prize, also claiming the pole position and winning the pit-stop competition. Throw in the federal government’s decision to drop the last of the tax charges just minutes before he went out for the final practice, and “this is the best month of May ever,” said Castroneves, now only one win away from joining the most elite group of all: four-time Indy winners A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears.

MORE:

http://sports.yahoo.com/irl/news?slug=ap-irl-indy500&prov=ap&type=lgns

[Galileo Galilei]

Details of Helio's trial:

IRS: Castroneves owes millions in taxes
http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/racing/indycar/news/story?id=4020697

1)

Note biased headline. How about this for a headline: "Cartoneves Says he Paid all of his taxes"

2)


The two-time Indianapolis 500 winner has previously said he paid little attention to his financial affairs and relied on professionals to handle them.

3)


Ultimately, the Penske Racing payments were never made to Seven Promotions but were eventually deposited in a deferred income deal with a Dutch company. Yet under IRS rules, Levitt said Castroneves was liable for the tax even though he never actually received the money.

Yikes!!

[Galileo Galilei]

Interesting pre-trial article. It looks like the IRS tried to screw this guy:

Helio Castroneves: Dancing with the IRS

by D-Boy (Scribe)

March 02, 2009

Jury selection was conducted in the tax evasion trial of IndyCar star Helio Castroneves, and tomorrow the trial will begin in earnest.

A lot of IndyCar fans are watching this trial closely and hoping for the best possible outcome: Acquittal.

But what are the chances of an acquittal? We've heard a lot of doom and gloom from tax experts lately about how more than 90 percent of cases that go this far result in conviction. Not exactly filling all of us with confidence.

But after talking to a tax expert I know personally (namely, my brother), it seems the chances of acquittal are higher than we've been led to believe.

It's true that in tax evasion cases, the IRS wins more than 90 percent of the time. But let's narrow things down a bit—every case has their own unique details, so lumping them all together doesn't really give us a proper look at his chances.

What are the most significant details of Helio's case?

1: He has been very clear since day one that he is willing to pay all owed taxes and penalties without question solely on the condition of no jail time.

2: His tax attorney is on trial as well.

Point No. 1 is a very good thing in Helio's favor—it shows that he's not some money-grubbing prick who's trying to defraud the US government. It is strong evidence that he was not aware that what he was doing was illegal.
Author Poll Results

Will Helio Castroneves be acquitted?

*
Yes
58.3%
*
No
25.0%
*
Don't know
11.1%
*
Don't care
5.6%
* Total votes: 36

It will make the jury wonder why instead of settling, the IRS decided to spend money prosecuting the case.

Point No. 2, however, is the more significant point. If we limit our look at tax evasion trials to cases where the defendant's tax attorney is on trial as well, the conviction rate drops sharply. To somewhere between 50 and 40 percent.

The thing is, the tax laws of the United States of America are insanely complex. Less than half the people born and raised in this country understand them, so why should we expect an immigrant to know?

The simple fact is, we shouldn't. And the fact that Helio depends on a tax attorney only proves that he doesn't know the laws either.

This is why cases like him often end in acquittal for the defendant, but not always the tax attorney. It may be an honest mistake on the attorney's part, or an overt act of greed to try and screw over his client, but its usually the fault of the attorney.

Some will say that the mere act of indicting someone is proof of wrongdoing, because the government wouldn't bring it that far is they didn't have strong evidence. This is not true: I have family involved in almost every level of the US legal system.

The government brings lawsuits against innocent people ALL THE TIME.

Often times it's to pry information out of them using the threat of jail time, but sometimes there's no rhyme or reason for it. Martha Stewart is a good example.

As much as I dislike her, the type of insider trading she engaged in IS NOT ILLEGAL. She was only convicted because there had been several cases of celebrities being acquitted in the news leading up to that trial, and the jury probably didn't like the idea of adding to those headlines.

Another thing to remember is that a grand jury indictment is based solely on the prosecution's case. The defense does not get to present an argument to refute any of the prosecutor's evidence.

Helio's got about a 50-50 chance of winning this case. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

And if someone automatically assumes he's guilty before such a verdict is delivered, smack them upside the head for me.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/132746-helio-castroneves-dancing-with-the-irs/poll_results#poll

[Galileo Galilei]

Here is some excellent technical legal analysis of the case, I urge all Ron Paulites to read through this stuff, so they can see what the Revolution is up against:

Roy Black on the Castroneves Trial

Following his recent victory in the Helio Castroneves tax evasion trial, Roy Black, famed trial attorney from Miami spent some time with us reflecting on that trial:

http://www.federalcriminaldefenseblog.com/tags/helio-castroneves/