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'SURVIVOR' HATCH TO FIND OUT WHY THEY'RE CALLED PLEA 'BARGAINS'

September 08, 2005

Richard Hatch, the original "Survivor" victor, now gets to test his survival skills in front of a real judge. A federal grand jury indicted him today on tax evasion and bank fraud charges.

Mr. Hatch backed out of a plea bargain on the charges last March; he has blamed CBS for part of his problems because they failed to withhold on his earnings. The indictment appears to cover much the same ground as the old plea deal, accusing him of failing to report $1 million in Survivor winnings and another $391,000 in other earnings.

The maximum sentence for the charges in the indictment is reported to be 73 years, though it would likely be considerably less under federal sentencing guidelines. The maximum sentence under the defunct plea agreement was 10 years.

UPDATE: The Smoking Gun already has the indictment online. The indictment also says he diverted cash from a charity he established to cover his personal expenses.

Link: All Tax Update Hatch stories

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