Tax Update Blog: Permalink

« Previous · Tax Update Blog Home · Next »

WADE IN OVER HIS HEAD

August 08, 2007

Investment "guru" and author Wade B. Cook now has plenty of time for his next book project. From SeattlePI.com:

Self-styled financial guru Wade Cook, 57, was sentenced Thursday to seven years and four months in federal prison for income tax evasion, filing false tax returns and obstructing a tax investigation.

His wife, Laura, 54, was sentenced to 18 months in a separate federal prison after pleading guilty in May to obstructing the investigation

Seven years is a long tax sentence. The amount of taxes evaded is key to determining the length of a sentence, and that number was pretty big:

Zilly also ordered the Cooks to pay $3.8 million in federal taxes on the $9.5 million in royalties they earned but failed to declare between 1998 and 2000.

During the hearing, Wade Cook was animated, grinning at his family and occasionally laughing and shaking his head in apparent dismay as Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Westinghouse argued before the judge. But his demeanor changed considerably after [Judge] Zilly pronounced sentence.

I'll bet it did.

Mr. Cook doesn't seem to expect to appear before Judge Zilly again anytime soon: