http://www.wnd.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=22834
IRS slapped with
$500 billion suit
2 groups charge civil rights
violations in raid
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© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
Two national groups providing estate-planning help announced today the
filing of a $500 billion class-action lawsuit against the Internal Revenue
Service and approximately 50 individual IRS agents, charging them with civil
rights violations against thousands of its members, most of whom are senior
citizens.
The suit stems from a raid on the offices of Heritage America and the Aegis
Company conducted by the IRS March 31, 2000, says the groups' executive
director, Michael Vallone. About 30 armed IRS agents reportedly entered the
Palos Hills, Ill., offices of the two groups.
The IRS agent in charge, Robert Kuschel, served a search warrant for a
company named "Aegis Financial Group." The suit alleges this company has no
relationship whatsoever to either Heritage America or The Aegis Company.
Vallone claims that Aegis Financial Group was a corporation of which he was
a partial owner from 1996 to 1998, and that it was an Indiana licensed
mortgage brokerage firm which operated exclusively in Indiana and had no
business dealings whatsoever with Heritage America or the Aegis Company.
The suit alleges that upon entering the offices of the companies, the agents
proceeded at gunpoint to separate the staff into separate rooms and
interrogated them for as long as two hours without ever reading them their
rights or informing them they were not required to provide information.
The IRS then proceeded to carry off all the companies' records, including
the paper and computer records of their members, says the suit. This
material contained the names, addresses and phone numbers of all the past
and present members of Heritage America and the Aegis Company. It also
contained financial information and the private estate-planning information
of these people, including copies of their wills, trusts and other
estate-planning documents such as powers of attorney.
"Their (the IRS') absolute rape of the privacy rights of more than 5,000
Americans … is another example of the terrorist tactics of a government
agency whose abuse of power demands severe retribution," said Vallone.
The suit also states that almost one year after the first raid, on March 29,
2001, the IRS performed a second raid in similar fashion on the offices of
Homer Richardson, a representative of Heritage America and the Aegis
Company. Once again, the search warrant served on Richardson stated it was
to procure documents associated with "Aegis Financial Group." Richardson
states he has never had any association whatsoever with Aegis Financial
Group.
Vallone charges the attack on Heritage America and the Aegis Company is part
of a four-year campaign the IRS has been waging against trusts. Both
Heritage America and the Aegis Company have provided their members with
services to set up trusts for estate planning, business planning and tax
planning. The Aegis Company has provided educational material and services
for its members regarding a type of trust that IRS regulations call a
"Business Trust."
"These types of trusts are completely legitimate," says Vallone. "They are
used by many of the major mutual funds in the United States, such as
Fidelity Magellan, Kemper and Nuveen. However, they can also be used by
small business owners. The IRS has recognized this in their own regulations.
Unfortunately, many companies have improperly promoted the use of business
trusts, and so the IRS has stepped in to crack down on the abuse of these
trusts."
The class-action lawsuit contains 11 separate counts of violations of Title
42 of the United States Code for deprivation of civil rights, and an
additional count under Title 18 which charges that the IRS and its agents
violated federal racketeering laws.
The 56-page complaint was filed May 8 in the Southern District of Illinois.
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