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'TOURJOURS DE L'AUDACE' DIDN'T WORK OUT THEN, EITHER

November 29, 2005

The TaxProf has a complete roundup on Congressman Cunningham's guilty plea on tax and bribery charges yesterday, with a thorough selection of links. TaxProf Paul Caron quotes the Department of Justice:

U.S. Attorney Carol Lam, whose office is prosecuting the case, said in a news conference that the facts Cunningham admitted in his plea agreement show "this was a crime of unprecedented magnitude and extraordinary audacity." Cunningham, an eight-term Republican congressman, had been under scrutiny for months for his ties to defense contractors and their officials.

A public official in France, Georges Danton, was a big fan of audacity, too ("Toujours de L'audace!). While Mr. Cunningham faces up to ten years in prison, M. Danton fared much worse than that.

In addition to the bribe disguised as a house sale we discussed yesterday, the bribes received included:

- Paying for the capital gains tax on house-sale bribe;

- Buying and maintaining the yacht in Washington D.C. on which Cunningham lived;

- Paying for a graduation party for Cunningham's daughter;

- Buying a Rolls Royce, antique furniture and jewelry, and picking up travel and hotel expenses for Cunningham and his wife;

- Making a $500,000 mortgage payoff for the house in Rancho Santa Fe

I hope it was a nice graduation party.

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