So this is how the biggest criminal tax case in US history ends. Prosecutors are now urging urging US District Judge Lewis Kaplan to dismiss indictments against 12 ex KPMG executives following his conclusion that the Government had violated their right to counsel, according to news reports.
"Based on the government's analysis of the court's prior ruling and on extensive legal research, we have concluded that the defendants are correct in their assertion," the prosecutors wrote."The only remedy that directly addresses the constitutional violations found by the court is dismissal of the indictment."
In January, charges against KPMG were dismissed after the firm paid a $456 million fine. Last year, Kaplan said prosecutors had violated the executives' Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights to a fair trial and effective assistance of counsel.
The US government has come out looking very bad. And despite the accounting firm flogging illegal tax shelters that cost US taxpayers billions of dollars, KPMG and most of the former partners involved in the scheme are walking away.
All of which adds weight to my argument that the Big Four accounting firms are simply too big. So big in fact that they are now untouchable and above the law.
no comment untill now