Opinion ID: 525066
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The MCA checks

Text: 27 Pisello argues that the MCA checks cannot prove that he committed a willful act of tax evasion because uncontradicted testimony showed that MCA requested the checks from him. This fact is not controlling. Pisello recognized the opportunity to claim that his payments from MCA were loans and thus tax evasion played a part in his conduct when he gave the checks to MCA. Attempting to characterize income as loans to evade taxes is an old device that the courts have not and cannot tolerate when enforcing Sec. 7201. See, e.g., United States v. Wiese, 750 F.2d 674, 677 (8th Cir.1984). True, Pisello may have wished to accommodate MCA by giving it the checks. The district court's conclusion that Pisello also sought to help himself was not incorrect.