Jennifer Whang is appointed Administrative Law Judge for FERC (9/26/12)

Chairman Appoints Jennifer Whang as New Administrative Law Judge (FERC News Release 9/24/12), here.  Excerpt from the News Release:

Judge Whang also served in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Tax Division, where she was a trial attorney in the Civil Trial Section. 

Tax Notes Article on Tax Division Criminal Enforcement (9/19/12)

I have just published a blog entry on the Tax Division.  See The Role of the DOJ Tax Division in Criminal Tax Enforcement (Federal Tax Crimes Blog 9/18/12), here.  The blog consists of excerpts and links to a Tax Notes article, Shamik Trivedi, For DOJ Tax Division, Consistency and Deterrence Are Key, 136 Tax Notes 1231 (Sept. 10, 2012), here, which is published with the permission of Tax Analystss.  The article principally covers criminal tax enforcement matters.  I thought readers of this blog might also be interested in the article.

Lapsley Hamblen Death (9/12/12)

Lapsley W. Hamblen, Jr., former DAAG Tax and Tax Court Judge, died on September 10,2012.  The Tax Court press release is here.  Here is a cut and paste of that  press release:

In Memory of Judge Lapsley W. Hamblen, Jr. 

September 11, 2012 

Retired Judge Lapsley W. Hamblen, Jr., who served on the United States Tax Court from September 14, 1982, until his retirement on June 30, 2000, died on September 10, 2012.
Judge Hamblen was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on December 25, 1926. He attended preparatory school at the McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He graduated from the University of Virginia, where he received a B.A. in Economics, and he graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he received an LL.B., was Class President, and was a member of the Raven Society and the Order of the Coif. 

Judge Hamblen served as attorney-adviser to Judge Craig Atkins of the Tax Court and as a trial attorney with the Office of the Regional Counsel, Internal Revenue Service, Atlanta, Georgia. 

During his prestigious career, Judge Hamblen was a partner in the law firm of Caskie, Frost, Hobbs & Hamblen, in Lynchburg, Virginia, for more than 25 years. He was a Fellow in the American College of Tax Counsel and the American College of Probate Counsel. He was a member of the American Bar Association and its Section of Taxation. He also was a member of the Federal Bar Association and was admitted to practice law in Virginia, Ohio, and West Virginia. He formerly was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Southern Federal Tax Institute, Inc., and was Codirector of the Annual Virginia Conference on Federal Taxation at the University of Virginia. Judge Hamblen contributed to several tax periodicals and lectured at various tax conferences. 

Judge Hamblen served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Tax Division, Department of Justice, at the time of his appointment to the Tax Court. 

Judge Hamblen was appointed by President Reagan as a Judge of the United States Tax Court on September 14, 1982, for a 15-year term ending September 13, 1997. He served as Chief Judge from June 1, 1992, to May 31, 1996. Judge Hamblen retired on June 1, 1996, and was recalled as Senior Judge to perform judicial duties until June 30, 2000. Judge Hamblen authored 349 opinions, including three opinions in Sundstrand Corp. and Subsidiaries v. Commissioner, and opinions in E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. v. Commissioner, Procter and Gamble Co. v. Commissioner, Estate of Halas v. Commissioner, and Piggly Wiggly Southern, Inc. v. Commissioner. 

Judge Hamblen is survived by his wife, the former Claudia Terrell. He was predeceased on February 2, 2011, by his son Lapsley W. Hamblen III, and is survived by his sons Allen Hamblen of Lynchburg, Virginia, and William Hamblen of Richmond, Virginia, and the families of his three sons. 

A memorial will be held by the Tax Court on a date to be determined.

The following is the death notice from the Washington Post, here, published 9/16/12.

LAPSLEY W. HAMBLEN Jr.
Death Notice 

HAMBLEN Judge LAPSLEY WALKER HAMBLEN, JR. The Honorable Lapsley Walker Hamblen, Jr., 85, retired judge of the United States Tax Court, died September 10, 2012 at his home in Falls Church, Virginia from cardiac disease. He was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee on December 25, 1926. His parents were Lapsley Walker Hamblen, Sr. and Libbey Shipley Hamblen. He was a graduate of the McCallie School in Chattanooga and the University of Virginia, receiving a B.A. in Economics in 1949 and an LLB from its Law School in 1953. He served in the United States Navy during World War II. During his college years he was a member of the football and boxing teams, Phi Delta Theta fraternity, which he served as President in 1948, Eli Banana and IMP Society. He served as President of his Law Class and was elected to the Order of the Coif, Omicron Delta Kappa and the Raven Society. He was admitted to the Bar of Virginia, Ohio and West Virginia and was a partner in the Lynchburg, Virginia Law Firm of Caskie, Frost, Hobbs and Hamblen and predecessor firms which he joined in 1957. He was listed in the first edition of the Best Lawyers in America (Tax) and also Who's Who in America and Who's Who in American Law. Prior to 1957, he served as a lawyer in the Regional Counsel Office of the Internal Revenue Service in Atlanta, Georgia, as a Law Clerk to Judge Craig Atkins, of the United States Tax Court, and law firms in Charleston, WV and Dayton, Ohio. In 1982, he was appointed a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Tax Division of the United States Department of Justice, in Washington, DC, and later that year he was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to be a Judge of the United States Tax Court in Washington, DC. In 1992, he was elected by his colleagues on the Court to be Chief Judge until he attained Senior Status in 1996. Judge Hamblen retired from the Court in 1999. During his practice of Law, Judge Hamblen was a member of the Virginia State Bar and the American Bar Association and its Tax Section. He was a former Chairman of the Virginia State Bar Committee on Taxation and the Committee on Co-operation with the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants. He was a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel and the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. Judge Hamblen was a former Co-Director of the Annual Virginia Conference on Taxation at the University of Virginia and was an Emeritus Trustee of the Southern Federal Tax Institute in Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to his return to government service, Judge Hamblen was Vice President and assistant Treasurer, and a member of the Board of Directors of Carter Glass and Sons Publishers, Inc., Lynchburg, Virginia and served one year as President of the Lynchburg Chamber of Commerce. He was a founding member of Jefferson National Bank in Lynchburg, VA, which was merged into Virginia National Bank, which now is part of Bank of America. Judge Hamblen was a member of the Metropolitan Club of the City of Washington, DC. He was a member of the National Presbyterian Church and served as a Stephen minister. Judge Hamblen is survived by his wife of 41 years, Claudia Terrell Hamblen of Falls Church, Virginia; and two sons from a previous marriage, James Allen Murdock Hamblen of Lynchburg, Virginia and William Shipley Hamblen of Richmond, Virginia. He was predeceased by his son, Lapsley Walker Hamblen, III in 2011. He is survived by three granddaughters, two grandsons and four great-granddaughters. Interment will take place on September 20, 2012 at 11 a.m. at Spring Hill Cemetery, Lynchburg, VA. A memorial service will be held on October 11, 2012 at 11 a.m. at the National Presbyterian Church, Washington, DC. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the McCallie School, memo line: The Hamblen Fund, 500 Dodds Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37404 or to The University of Virginia Law School Foundation, 580 Massie Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903.In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the McCallie School, memo line: The Hamblen Fund, 500 Dodds Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37404 or to The University of Virginia Law School Foundation, 580 Massie Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903.

Ihlo and Daly Named DOJ Tax Senior Litigation Counsel (9/3/12)

U.S. Department of Justice
Tax Division
Assistant Attorney General Washington, D. C. 20530

August 15, 2012

MEMORANDUM

To:   Tax Division
From: Kathryn Keneally
         Assistant Attorney General
Subject: Selection of Senior Litigation Counsel

I am pleased to announce that I have selected Jennifer E. Ihlo and Mark F. Daly as Senior Litigation Counsel. Senior Litigation Counsel handle the Tax Division's most challenging and important cases. Please join me in congratulating Jen and Mark, and in thanking them for taking on the additional responsibilities of the position.

Jennifer Ihlo- CATEPS

Jen is a graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University and the South Texas College of Law. She joined the Tax Division as a trial attorney in 1989. Prior to joining the Division, Jen served as an Assistant District Attorney in Beaumont, Texas, and as Assistant Counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary. Since joining the Tax Division, Jen has served as lead counsel in numerous investigations and jury trials, many involving tax defier schemes. Among those cases was United States v. Flowers, et al. (D. Ore.), a multi-defendant case involving the trial of promoters of a fraudulent warehouse banking scheme, for which Jen and her co-counsel received the Department of Justice's John Marshall award. Over the years, Jen has developed tremendous expertise concerning tax defier and domestic terrorism issues and is highly regarded within the Division, Department, and the broader law enforcement community for her leading roles as both a litigator and an educator on those matters. In 1996, her expertise and the importance of those law enforcement issues led to her appointment as Special Counsel for Tax Protest Matters (Criminal) and, in 2008, as National Director of the Tax Defier Initiative.

Mark Daly - Criminal 

Mark is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Duke University School of Law. He joined the Department of Justice in 2002 and the Tax Division in 2006. Prior to joining the Division, he handled complex civil litigation in the Department's Civil Rights Division and in private practice with the well-regarded law firms Drinker, Biddle & Reath, LLP and Goodwin Proctor LLP. Since joining Tax Division, Mark has successfully handled the investigation and prosecution of numerous complex criminal tax cases. During the past 3 years, he has also taken a leading role in three separate grand jury investigations of major financial institutions involved in schemes to defraud the United States by aiding and assisting U.S. taxpayers to evade their taxes through undeclared offshore bank accounts. In that role, he has been actively engaged in developing overall strategy and managing teams of Tax Division prosecutors and IRS Special Agents, while assisting other prosecutors and investigating agents throughout the country. In 20 I 0, Mark conducted the grand jury investigation and served as lead trial counsel for the first trial arising from the offshore initiative, United States v. Cohen, et al. (S.D. Fla.), which involved a decades-long, $30 million scheme by father and son international hotel developers who evaded taxes through the use of nominees, sham corporations, and offshore bank accounts. After a monthlong trial, both defendants were convicted and later sentenced to ten years imprisonment and millions of dollars in fines and restitution.

I would also like to thank the other applicants. All of the applications reflected strong litigating experience, a dedication to public service, and a superior work ethic. The Tax Division is fortunate to have so many formidable litigators in its ranks.