Opinion ID: 77737
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Admission of tax evidence

Text: Tampas argues that the district court prejudiced his right to a fair trial by admitting evidence about the YMCA's unpaid payroll taxes over his objection. He points out that the indictment did not charge him with any tax-related crimes, and he characterizes the tax-related evidence as other crimes evidence under Fed. R.Evid. 404(b), admissible only if the government has sufficient proof that the defendant committed the act and can show that the probative value of the evidence is not substantially outweighed by its undue prejudice. See United States v. Miller, 959 F.2d 1535, 1538 (11th Cir.1992) (en banc). We review the admission of evidence for abuse of discretion. See United States v. Range, 94 F.3d 614, 620 (11th Cir.1996). We cannot conclude that the district court abused its discretion in this case by admitting evidence of the YMCA's unpaid payroll taxes. First, the government did not offer the evidence to suggest that Tampas was responsible for tax-related offenses; rather, the evidence was offered to explain how surplus cash was available to fund Tampas's and Patrick's kickback scheme, which went undetected by auditors and by the YMCA board for years while the inflated operating account balance fostered the impression that the YMCA's finances were strong. Moreover, the evidence reasonably supports an inference that Tampas knew about Fillyaw's failure to remit the taxes and had access to the excess funds; Tampas and Fillyaw met several times a day, Tampas managed and was very knowledgeable about the YMCA's finances, and he showed little shock when the auditor informed him of the unpaid taxes. The prejudice Tampas claims to have suffered does not outweigh the probative value of this evidence, and the district court did not err in admitting it.