Opinion ID: 2800048
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Tax Counts

Text: Finally, Beckman disputes the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his tax fraud convictions.13 Beckman maintains the government did not prove he acted willfully. IRS Special Agent Anna Johnson testified as to Beckman’s omissions of income for his 2007 and 2009 returns (Beckman did not file a return in 2008). A reasonable jury could credit Special Agent Johnson’s testimony and conclude Beckman acted willfully when in 2007 he submitted a tax return reporting a substantial negative income based on a loss from his interest in Oxford Global Advisors, LLC—even though he testified in a deposition that he did not contribute any capital of his own into the entity—resulting in a $328,126 tax refund rather than a $165,204 tax payment. A reasonable jury could also conclude Beckman acted willfully when in 2009, in a self-prepared return, Beckman claimed a deductible theft loss of $1,498,853 due to a Ponzi scheme, which required Beckman to represent he had “no actual knowledge” of the fraud before it was made public.