Opinion ID: 548
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Disclosure to the IRS

Text: During the month of August 2005, an IRS Special Agent contacted counsel for Dr. Gerber. The Agent indicated that he was investigating Dr. Gerber and had reviewed a substantial amount of material concerning him. He subsequently sent Dr. Gerber's attorney a collection of documents, some of which had the word Confidential stamped on them and the name Gerber with a number, indications that they had been furnished by Dr. Gerber at his deposition in the SEC action. Apparently, the IRS received these documents from the United States Attorney's Office, which in turn had received them from the SEC. Beginning in late 2005, the IRS issued a number of third-party administrative summonses to banks, law firms, and brokerages concerning Dr. Gerber's tax liability. Dr. Gerber moved in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to quash the summonses, and the IRS moved to have them enforced. At a meeting in June 2007 with Dr. Gerber's attorneys, IRS Special Agents admitted that they had read Dr. Gerber's deposition taken in the SEC action. After the district court in the summons enforcement action was informed that there had apparently been a violation of the protective order, the IRS withdrew its summons and asked the district court to dismiss the enforcement action as moot.