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Thursday, December 19, 2002

David Irving comments: I AM POSTING this news item because this appears to be a civil rights issue rather than a taxation issue. To many it might seem commendable that at a time when the United States are preparing to go to war with a fearsome, omnipotent, nay supernatural, power in the Middle East, and still have major financial scandals like Enron and WorldCom unresolved, they can expend time in pursuing a citizen over a ten thousand dollar issue, with the intention merely of forcing him into a situation where he can no longer stand for political public office. Kenneth Lay of Enron fame can still stand, but not Mr Duke it seems.   The United States has an unfortunate record of using taxation law as a means of harassing its opponents -- the forty-year plus sentence inflicted on Lyndon Larouche is one obvious case that comes to mind; but also the use of tax law to nab Al Capone.    Of course, the defeat of Capone may still rankle with some people even now, and it is a sweet revenge for them to turn the same sword against their arch enemy David Duke. Related file: Our dossier on some of the origins of anti-Semitism

David Duke Pleads Guilty to Tax Charge and Fraud

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 18 (AP) -- David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader and politician who spent the last three years overseas preaching "white survival," pleaded guilty today to bilking his supporters and cheating on his taxes.

Mr. Duke, 52, could be sentenced to up to 15 months in prison and $10,000 in fines under a plea bargain reached with federal prosecutors. He is free on bail until sentencing on March 19.

The plea to felony charges also disqualifies Mr. Duke from running for public office again.

He pleaded guilty to mail fraud and filing a false return shortly after the indictment was filed. The plea came two days after Mr. Duke returned to Louisiana from abroad to negotiate with prosecutors.

Mr. Duke said little in court and would not discuss details of the case outside the courthouse. "I appreciate the tremendous amount of support I've received from people all over the nation," he said.

Mr. Duke was accused of telling supporters that he was in financial straits, then misusing the money they sent him from 1993 to 1999. He was also accused of filing a false 1998 tax return claiming that he made only $18,831 when he really made more than $65,000.

Mr. Duke used the money for personal investments and gambling trips to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Las Vegas and the Bahamas, the United States attorney, Jim Letten, said. Mr. Letten would not disclose the amount but said it was "in the six-figure area."

The agreement does not require Mr. Duke to refund the money. Mr. Letten said that the contributions were as small as $5 and that there were so many that returning the money would be "unwieldy."

Mr. Duke had just started a speaking tour in Russia in January 2000 when federal agents raided his home in Mandeville, La.

Related items:

 Website of David Duke

 Comment by Don Black