Newsletter Focusing on DOJ Tax Criminal Enforcement Section (8/23/21)

I received the email below from Jeff Beinholt, an alumnus of DOJ Tax CES (the Criminal Section initialism).  The content speaks for itself.  Some readers of this blog may be within the target audience for his newsletter focusing on CES.

 "Greetings. Jeff Breinholt here, an alumnus of the Tax (Crim) Division (1990-1997). About six months ago, I launched a newsletter devoted to Tax Division history, culture, and lore, called The Malone Report. It's a private online newsletter/blog that is only available to registered members (though it's free). Would any of you Tax Division alums like to be added? If so, you can send an email to GMAD2021@yahoo.com."

DOJ Tax Alumni Email List (8/21/21)

As I noted in an earlier blog entry, Setting Up New DOJ Tax Division Alumni Mailing List (1/5/21), here, I would set up a new email list using Google Groups.  I have done that.  Anyone wanting to be on that list should email me at:

jack@tjtaxlaw.com

I will use the list to advise of new blog entries and other items that may be of interest to members of the group.  I can assure people signing up for the list that I will not flood your inboxes with emails.  I suspect that, based on past experience with the past email service, there will be 15 or fewer emails per year.  Of course, events could make more appropriate, but I doubt that many more will be appropriate in any year.

I think this list will permit others to send emails to the group.  Before any such emails are distributed to the list, I will moderate the emails to ensure that they are appropriate.  If I do not think they are appropriate for distribution, I will discuss the matter with the sender and reach an appropriate resolution.  But, I retain final authority as to what gets distributed.  I will make sure the email inboxes are not flooded with inappropriate content.

Death of Jon Forman 8/16/21 (8/21/21)

Jon Forman (DOJ Tax – Northern Civil 1979-1983) passed away on August 16, 2021.  The obituary is here.  The obituary and comments are very good in recording some features of his life.  The obituary is probably a good place to post comments and observations about John.  Of course, such posts can also be made on this blog entry.

Nathan Hochman Seeks California Attorney General Post (8/8/21)

I picked up this offering about an illustrious DOJ Tax Alum:  Congressman Darrell Issa endorses Nathan Hochman for Attorney General, here.  The offering states in part:  “In 2008, Nathan was appointed by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the US Senate as US Assistant Attorney General overseeing the Department of Justice’s Tax Division.”

The offering also directs those interested to a Facebook offering titled Nathan Hochman for Attorney General 2022, here.

I also found this YouTube offering, here. 

I could not find whether Hochman has obtained or sought Donald Trump’s endorsement.  But, I suppose, an Issa endorsement goes most of the way there, since as best I can tell Issa and Trump are cut from the same cloth (see Wikipedia, here). 

Death of Allen Schwait 5/27/21 (6/4/21)

Allen Schwait of Baltimore, died May 27.  See Allen L. Schwait, Baltimore City Circuit Court judge who chaired University of Maryland Board of Regents, dies (The Baltimore Sun 6/3/21),  here.. Some excerpts:

“Allen was what you’d want in a trial judge. He was a true gentleman and scholar and had a keen intellect. He was a true mensch,” said former Circuit Judge Stuart R. Berger, currently a judge of the Maryland Court of Special Appeals.

* * * *

In 1964, he was appointed as a trial attorney to the Civil Refund Trial Section of the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he specialized in tax refund cases and served until 1967.

Judge Schwait began practicing law in 1969 with the law firm of Garbis & Schwait, specializing in general and tax litigation until 1993, when he became a partner in Azrael, Gann & Franz.\

“They call judges honorable, and Allen was truly an honorable guy,” Mr. Starr said. “It truly fit him and he was so well-suited to be called honorable.”

“Allen was a bright guy who made his own way, and a good Baltimore guy in so many ways who knew everyone in town,” said Peter A. Jay, a former Sun columnist. “He was very community-minded, thoughtful, intelligent and good-humored. He led a good constructive life, and I always thought he was the kind of person who should have been a judge.”

Death of Murphy Booth 5/29/21 (6/1/21)

Murphy Booth passed away on Saturday, May 29, 2021, after a short battle with cancer.

Murphy’s public service with the federal government spanned more than 42 years. He first joined the government in 1977 working for the Soil Conservation Service at the Department of Agriculture followed by more than three years at the Veterans’ Administration. Murphy joined the Tax Division on January 22, 1984, working in the Criminal Section. He worked for many years in the Criminal Enforcement Section, Northern Region, before moving to the Office of Management and Administration in 1997. 

His obituary is here:  https://www.goinghomecares.com/obituaries/Murphy-Booth?obId=21249778. 

At this time, plans for a memorial service are not available. If I lean of plans for a memorial service, I will post the information here.

Follow by Email Feedburner Email Notice Service Being Discontinued (5/10/21)

Some DOJ Tax Alumni have signed up for and have been receiving email notifications of new blog entries via a service called Feedburner through the “Follow by Email” widget that formerly was in the right hand column on this blog.  The Feedburner service is being discontinued in July 2021.  I am therefore eliminating that widget so that Follow by Email will not longer be available for new  subscribers for that service and,  I suppose, the Follow by Email service will stop working in July 2021 for persons who were already registered.

There are other services that, I understand, can provide similar functionality, but I just have not spent the time to try to figure out how they work and how to implement them on the blog site.  If and when I figure that out, I provide a replacement for the "Follow by Email" functionality.

I have downloaded the email addresses of those who were registered as of today.  So, if I get a substitute service for this functionality, I will email those persons with notice so that they can register.

Mike Desmond Joins Gibson Dunn (5/7/21)

Gibson Dunn has announced here that Mike Desmond joined the firm as a partner.  Mike was most immediately the IRS Chief Counsel, but earlier in his career had been a DOJ Tax trial attorney, according to the press release, from 1995 to 2000.  There is no indication as to the section or sections in DOJ Tax in which he served.

Former AAG Loretta Argrett Gives Talk for Tax Court Diversity and Inclusion Series (3/3/21)

The Tax Court has a Diversity and Inclusion series announced February 12, 2021.  The series is announced on the Tax Court Engagement & Outreach site here.  The first speaker was Loretta Argrett who spoke on 2/24/21.  Here recorded talk is linked on the site and can be directly viewed here.

Readers of this blog will remember the Ms. Argrett previously served as Assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division in the Clinton Administration.  Her bio is offered on the Stanford law School Women Trailblazers Project,  here.  The excerpt related to her Tax Division service is:

At the beginning of the Clinton Administration, Ms. Argrett became the Assistant Attorney General, Tax Division, in the Justice Department and was the first African American to serve in that position. She also became the first African American woman in the Department's history to hold a position that requires Senate confirmation. During her six years at the Department, Ms. Argrett actively championed women and recruited them for positions of leadership. She restructured the Division not only to increase its effectiveness and efficiency, but to provide advancement opportunities for legal support personnel, many of whom were African American "single moms." At one point during her tenure at Justice, the three top positions in the Division were held by women.

Death of Rodger Moore 2/6/17 (2/28/21)

Rodger Moore died on 2/6/17.  I was just notified of this, so sorry for the belated notice.  

His obituary is here.  The obituary says:

He was employed by the U.S. Military Court of Appeals and retired as a trial attorney for the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Rodger served in Refund 2 while I was in that section (1974-1977) and, as I recall, was an old-timer (47 years old).  I am not sure what his trajectory in DOJ Tax was other than that.