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The article reports that actor Wesley Snipes was found not guilty of felony and conspiracy charges associated with not filing his U.S. tax returns. He was found guilty of misdemeanor charges and must pay the taxes and penalties due to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). A discussion about "tax deniers," people who deny the federal government's right to impose income taxes, is presented.

The article reports that the actor Wesley Snipes will go on trial on federal tax evasion charges on January 14, 2008 in Ocala, Florida. Snipes paid no income tax on an estimated $38 million in earnings from 1999-2004. He is an advocate for the U.S. movement known as tax deniers, citizens who claim they are not legally obligated to pay income taxes, a position no court has ever upheld.

The article reports that U.S. Representative William Jefferson of Louisiana has been indicted on 16 federal felony charges related to public corruption. Jefferson has been charged with accepting bribes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. An August, 2005 search of Jefferson's Washington, D.C. residence found $90,000 in cash stored in a freezer. The indictment has been expected ever since business associates of Jefferson pled guilty to related charges.

The article discusses the testimony of NBC newsman Tim Russsert in the trial of I. Lewis Libby, former chief of staff to U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. A defense lawyer questioned Russert's remembrance of events. Russert denied Libby's claim that the two spoke about C.I.A. officer Valerie Wilson. Libby claimed first to have learned of Wilson's affiliation from Russert, but Russert testified that that would have been impossible based on the date he first heard of Wilson in a column by Bob Novak.

The author reports that a federal judge in Brooklyn, New York has ruled that smokers of light cigarettes that were often promoted as a safer alternative to regular cigarettes can press their fraud claim in a class-action lawsuit. Details related to the decision handed down by Judge Jack B. Weinstein are reviewed. According to the author, the ruling raises the possibility that so-called lights cases will become a major threat to tobacco companies and expose them to potentially significant damages.

This article reports that Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the prosecutor in the C.I.A. leak case, knew the identity of the leaker from his very first day in the special counsel's chair. Fitzgerald kept the inquiry open for almost two years before indicting I. Lewis Libby Jr., U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, on obstruction charges.

Reports that "New York Times" reporter Judith Miller testified to a federal grand jury investigating whether officials in the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush leaked the identity of Central intelligence Agency operative Valerie Wilson. Overview of the agreement reached by prosecutors and Miller's lawyers, which resulted in her release from prison; Comments from Miller regarding her case; Overview of the case involving Wilson.

Reports that Judith Miller, the reporter for "The New York Times" who has been jailed since July 6, 2005 for refusing to testify in the leak case of C.I.A. operative Valerie Plame, was released from a Virginia detention center after she and her lawyers reached an agreement with a federal prosecutor in which she would testify before a grand jury investigating the case. Review of how Miller spent 12 weeks in jail while refusing to cooperate with the inquiry; Overview of the case and official statements regarding Miller's release.

Reports that Judith Miller, an investigative reporter for "The New York Times," was sent to jail after a U.S. federal judge declared that she was defying the law by refusing to divulge the name of a confidential source. How a last-minute deal between Matthew Cooper of "Time" magazine and a confidential source spared Cooper jail time; Miller's comments to Judge Thomas F. Hogan; Issue of a free press; Hogan's role in holding the two reporters in civil contempt for refusing to cooperate with a federal prosecutor's investigation into the disclosure of the identity of a covert operative of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); Indication by Hogan that he would lift the contempt sanction against Cooper after he testified before a grand jury; How Miller joins a line of journalists who have accepted jail time rather than betray their sources' confidences; Views of Bill Keller, executive editor of "The Times"; Cooper's decision to drop his refusal to testify; Observation that Miller conducted interviews but never wrote an article about the CIA operative Valerie Plame; Statement from Arthur Sulzberger Jr., Publisher of "The Times." INSET: Journalists Who Served Time.

Reports on how the federal government's campaign against income tax evaders suffered a major setback when a federal jury in Sacramento, California acquitted a former Internal Revenue Service investigator on charges of helping to prepare false tax returns. Review of the case of Joseph R. Banister; Author's view that Banister has become a hero of the anti-tax movement; Comments from Banister regarding his case; Review of Banister's career history.

Discusses how accounting firm Grant Thornton marketed a way to reduce taxes using Roth individual retirement accounts (I.R.A.s). How I.R.A.s meant to cover a few thousand dollars have been used to shelter millions; Action against Grant Thornton by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service; Background on the lawsuit; Grant Thornton's strategy; Lawsuit against Grant Thornton by shelter client William C. Ross. INSET: An I.R.A. Turned Tax Shelter.

Focuses on a federal court case involving economist Myron S. Scholes, who acquired a tax shelter for the Long-Term Capital Management, which has been disallowed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Number of years ago the hedge fund collapsed requiring government intervention to avert a worldwide financial panic; Value of tax benefits from the shelter and its cost to the fund; Indications of the tough cross-examination by government lawyer, Charles P. Hurley.

Reports on the allegations that the oil company ChevronTexaco evaded taxes in a complex petroleum pricing scheme according to a research paper. Involvement of a project in Indonesia; Investigations by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS); Controversy about the legitimacy of the case.

Reports on the indictment filed in Boston, Massachusetts against Al-Qaede-trained terrorist Richard Reid who tried to bring down an airliner on a Paris-to-Miami flight in December 2001. Charges included in the indictment; Credit for the vigilance of passengers and crew in preventing Reid; Police investigation on Reid's Al Qaeda involvement.

Reports on the terrorism charges against Taliban fighter John Walker in the U.S. Details on the criminal complaint; Information on the affidavit signed by Walker; Reaction of the family of the Taliban sympathizer.

A GROWING number of charities are persuading donors to create a little-known kind of endowment as the troubled economy and this year's hiatus from the estate tax create problems for charities that depend on major lifetime gifts and on bequests. Charities report that executors of some estates are showing reluctance to hand over bequests until next year, while others say they are in negotiations or even litigation over planned gifts from people who died this year without adjusting their wills to take into account the one-year suspension of the estate tax. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In April 2001, seven months after the Navy destroyer Cole was bombed in Yemen, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri was staying at a Qaeda guesthouse in Afghanistan when he is alleged to have laid out how he had planned the whole thing. One of those houseguests was later captured, and he told F.B.I. agents the story of those boasts and implied that he could be a star witness if Mr. Nashiri were tried for the murder of the 17 American sailors killed in the attack. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced Wednesday that he was replacing the top official of an internal Justice Department ethics unit investigating the accusations of prosecutorial misconduct that led to the dismissal of criminal charges against former Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska. Mr. Holder named Mary Patrice Brown, a senior prosecutor and chief of the criminal division in the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, to lead the Office of Professional Responsibility, succeeding H. Marshall Jarrett, its director since 1998. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The ethics case against Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska was to be a signal achievement for the Justice Department's elite anticorruption unit, for decades the lead prosecutors on the nation's highest-profile cases. But in the aftermath of the collapse of the conviction last week, lawyers poring over the wreckage said they believed the case had been poorly managed and inadequately supervised, lacked sufficient resources and been hampered by conflicts between prosecutors and F.B.I. agents going back months. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article reports that judge Kern A. Reese suspended prison sentence of Texas businessman Joe Seeber in a dispute with the electric utility holding company Entergy Corp. after approving his letter of apology. Seeber is the owner of the electric bill consulting company TriStem Consulting that checks electric bills for accuracy.

The article reports that judge Kearn A. Reese ordered prison sentence to Joe Seeber, owner of TriStem Consulting, the firm that checks electricity bills for accuracy, in his long dispute with the utility company Entergy Corp. Entergy sued Seebar and demanded $3.2 million in damages as TriStem Consulting failed to inform about a corroded pole. The pole fell on a fruit vendor and the fruit vendor won a $3.2 billion damage award from Entergy.

The article reports that Gene F. Haas, owner of the company Haas Automation, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy in cheating the U.S. government out of $34.3 million in taxes in California. Haas will be the fourth and last defendant to admit guilt in the case. The plea agreement is subject to approval by a judge of Federal District Court in Los Angeles, California. Haas has agreed to serve two years in prison.

The article reports on a declaration made by the two officials of the U.S. Department of Justice, namely Glenn A. Fine and H. Marshall Jarrett, regarding an expansion in investigation of accusations leveled against U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. The two officials declared that they would examine whether Gonzales tried to influence the testimony of former adviser Monica Goodling in a private meeting on the dismissal of federal prosecutors in the U.S.

The article reports on a declaration made by U.S. President George W. Bush regarding his support for U.S. attorney general Alberto R. Gonzales. The President declared that his support for Gonzales would not be undermined by the investigations into dismissal of public prosecutors in the U.S. The President's comments came as the Democrats of the U.S. Senate unveiled the text of no-confidence resolution against Gonzales.

The article reports on a declaration made by officials of the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush that U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales is confident that he will survive the scandal regarding the dismissal of the U.S. attorneys. According to Tony Snow, press secretary of Bush, the latter still supports Gonzales fully and wholly.

The article reports that Robert Schulz, leader of a group called We the People Foundation for Constitutional Education and its affiliates, has been sued by the U.S. Justice Department. This is because a tax scheme was used by his followers which Schulz sold to avoid paying $21 million of income taxes.

The article states that Federal prosecutors in San Diego announced an 11-count felony indictment charging Kyle Foggo, a former executive director of U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, with using his seniority and influence to steer contracts to a lifelong friend in return for a lucrative job and lavish vacation travel. The indictment charged Foggo with wire fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and failing to report vacation trips and other gifts paid for by the friend, Brent R. Wilkes.

The article reports that Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. of South Korea has agreed to pay $90 million to settle civil charges that it conspired with six other makers of computer chips to fix prices. The settlement has ended the civil litigation in the case. It is informed that a $310 million amount has been paid by five of the companies to settle separate actions brought by direct buyers.

The article offers information on the federal tax court's decision in a 14-year old evasion case. The case involved one of the leading tax advisors of the U.S. Burton W. Kanter, and two associates Claude M. Ballard, a former general partner at Goldman Sachs and Robert W. Lisle, a Prudential real estate executive. According to the decision given by Harry A. Haines, Judge of the U.S. Tax Court, kickbacks from the Pritzker family of Chicago, which owns Hyatt hotels were accepted by Kanter.

The article reports that U.S. vice-president Dick Cheney will act as a defense witness in the trial of I. Lewis Libby Jr., former chief of staff. Libby was charged of perjury and obstruction of justice. It was indicated by a Cheney's spokeswoman that the request for his testimony will not be resisted by Cheney.

The article offers news briefs related to various crimes in the U.S. Xiaodong Sheldon Meng, a Chinese engineer, has been charged with stealing trade secrets from the firm Quantum3D Inc. The authorities have issued a bulletin saying that terrorist Omar Abdel-Rahman had asked his followers to engage in violence if he died in custody. James L. Shumate, a judge in Utah, has ordered the Mormon polygamist leader Warren S. Jeffs to stand trial on two felony counts of rape as an accomplice.

The article reports that motion picture actor Wesley Snipes remains a federal fugitive and no deal has been made to free him from tax fraud and conspiracy charges. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney in Central Florida reported this news. At present, the actor is in Namibia filming "Gallowwalker," a horror movie. The United States doesn't have an extradition treaty with Namibia.

The article focuses on the trial of suspected terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui in the U.S.

The article reports that Judge T. S. Ellis III of the Federal District Court in Alexandria, Virginia has sentenced the former U.S. Defense Department analyst Lawrence A. Franklin to 12 years and seven months in prison after the analyst admitted passing classified military information to Israelis.

The article reports that lawyers for the former chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby Jr. has planned to file a subpoena for reporters and news organizations to obtain additional documents that could assist in his defense in the Central Intelligence Agency leak case.

The article reports on the refusal of Justice Department lawyers to a request from independent prosecutor investigating former Housing Secretary Henry G. Cisneros to expand the inquiry in the U.S.

The article reports on the legal motion filed against the Internal Revenue Service for failing to disclose tax data in the U.S.

The article offers news briefs involving legal cases in the U.S. The execution for Angel Maturino Resendiz, convicted for several killings and rape, is scheduled on May 10, 2006. A 14-year-old boy, Martin Lee Anderson, was found dead after he was restrained by the guards at a boot camps for juvenile offenders in Florida. I. Lewis Libby Jr. had been chosen as senior adviser at the Hudson Institute in Washington. Jose Padilla is scheduled to appear in the federal court on January 12, 2006 to face the terrorism charges against him.

The article reports that reporter Viveca Novak has been asked to testify under oath in a case involving the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency about the conversation she had in 2004 with lawyer Robert D. Luskin.

This article reports that Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the prosecutor in the CIA leak case is trying to find out whether senior White House adviser Karl Rove concealed form the grand jury a conversation with a Time magazine reporter in the week before an intelligence officer's identity was made public in 2003.

Reports on the refusal of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to reconsider a ruling that allowed a former Army bioterrorism expert to proceed with a defamation suit against The New York Times Company.

Reports that a federal district judge has lifted a contempt order against Judith Miller, a reporter of the New York Times, after she testified before a grand jury investigating the Central Intelligence Agency leak case about discovered notes relating to conversation she had with senior White House official.

Reports that Judith Miller, the reporter for the "The New York Times" newspaper involved in a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency leak case, will testify again about a conversation she had with a senior White House official.

Reports on the conviction of Larken Rose, a tax protester who dared the U.S. Justice Department to indict him, for willfully failing to file tax returns.

Reports that U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) memorandums portray abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American military personnel in Iraq, according to government documents. Release of the documents in connection with a lawsuit accusing the government of being complicit in torture; Nature and extent of the abuses; Excerpts from the memorandum; How the documents show that such activities were known to a wide circle of government officials; Overview of the harsh interrogation tactics; Why the possible impersonation of FBI agents by military personnel is especially troubling to FBI officials.

Reports on the announcement from I.B.M. that it had agreed to pay $320 million to its employees to settle in part a class action lawsuit over its pension plan. How I.B.M.'s liability will be limited to an additional $1.4 billion if courts uphold a ruling that a new pension plan discriminates against its older workers and is deemed illegal; Ruling of G. Patrick Murphy that the company discriminated against its older workers in the 1990's when it changed its traditional pension plan to leave older workers with only a cash-balance plan; Intention of I.B.M. to appeal the claims including that which questions whether cash-balance pension plans by definition discriminate against older workers.