Feds reject lawyer's attempt to blame high-profile partner for tax evasion
Joseph Richichi, who pleaded guilty to tax evasion in April, argued in court papers last week that he put money in bank accounts that should have paid taxes as a safety net because of his failing health and to prevent the collapse of his law firm.
He says his partner, Michael "Mickey" Sherman, incurred more than $1.1 million in federal tax liens on the property they owned, bounced checks and failed to pay him back $25,000 he loaned in 1987 to build a house.
Prosecutors called that argument "ludicrous" in court papers filed Wednesday.
"Does Richichi really expect this court to believe his suggestion that he committed six years of tax evasion because a lawyer with whom he shared office space was fiscally inept and had significant tax liabilities?," prosecutors wrote.
Prosecutors said Richichi cheated on his taxes because he thought he could get away with it. They said he should be sentenced to 24 to 30 months as called for under sentencing guidelines.
"When well to do citizens who happen to be earning significant income from the practice of law, like Richichi, repeatedly and brazenly ignore our countries tax laws to steal from their fellow tax payers, they should be punished with more than a 'soft pat' on the wrist," prosecutors wrote.
Richichi failed to pay more than $600,000 in taxes on more than $1.8 million he earned as an attorney from 2000 to 2005, prosecutors say. He faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced Dec. 19, but asked that he be sentenced to home confinement rather than prison.
Sherman represented Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel at his trial, and Skakel's current attorney plans to argue that he provided ineffective counsel because he was dealing with financial problems.
Telephone messages were left Wednesday and last week for Sherman, who frequently appears as a television commentator on criminal cases.
Skakel, a nephew of Ethel Kennedy, is serving 20 years to life in prison after he was convicted in 2002 of killing his neighbor, Martha Moxley, in 1975 in Greenwich.
Hope Seeley, Skakel's attorney, has said she plans to file a petition in state court arguing that Skakel had ineffective counsel at his trial when Sherman represented him. Seeley has said Sherman failed to fully investigate witnesses because he had financial difficulties, a claim Sherman denies.
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