COURT FILING EXPOSES DISTURBING IRS ABUSES IN UTAH

COURT FILING EXPOSES DISTURBING IRS ABUSES IN UTAH   

 

While the IRS is still reeling from its PR blunder related to the targeting of conservative groups, another disturbing incident of IRS abuse is coming to light through court filings in Nevada: 

 

It takes 39 pages and multiple affidavits from government witnesses to paint a disturbing picture of IRS agents in Utah who are willing to do whatever it takes to extract revenge from people who wont comply with the demands of other government agencies.

The document lays out in chilling detail how IRS agent Jamie Hipwell conspired with attorneys from the Federal Trade Commission to arrest Jeremy Johnson and make him look like a flight risk. Johnson apparently refused to sign a settlement agreement after the FTC was able to seize his assets. Perturbed that he would dare demand his day in court, the FTC turned to the IRS to get an arrest warrant for Johnson.

IRS Special Agent Jamie Hipwell

IRS agent Jamie Hipwell admitted in testimony after Johnson was arrested that he had done no investigation of Johnson, and had not made any attempt to verify the information provided to him from the FTC he used to obtain the arrest warrant. However, even that does not seem to be true as Hipwell had to alter the FTC’s information in his arrest warrant to make it look like a criminal act had occurred in order to trick U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Warner into signing the warrant. 

In this case, not only was the IRS willing to ignore their own rules for obtaining an arrest warrant, the IRS agent was even willing to perjure himself and lie to a Federal Judge to accomplish their goal.  There seems to be a disturbing trend forming here of government agencies using the IRS to punish people and groups who cause problems for the Federal Government.

It only gets worse later on when Johnson demanded a trial on the single charge of mail fraud. Agent Hipwell and U.S. Attorney Brent Ward threatened Johnson that they would arrest his friends and family if he refused to plead guilty and continued to demand a trial. The court filing even provides a copy of the “hit list” that was given to Johnson by Agent Hipwell, which included his wife, parents, brother, uncle, and other Johnson associates.

The filing also goes on to explain how prosecutors in the Utah U.S. Attorneys office sought to give Utah Attorney General John Swallow immunity as part of the deal. This likely explains why the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Utah was abruptly removed from the ongoing John Swallow investigation only 3 days after the filing.

The court filing is worth the read if you are interested in the sordid details concerning the dirty dealings of the IRS here in Utah. You can download the complete filing with exhibits here.