Carl C. Lee v. United States

On September 14, 1955, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, appellant, Carl C. Lee, was indicted for violating § 145(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939, 26 U.S.C.A. § 145 (b), which provided that “any person who willfully attempts in any manner to evade or defeat any tax imposed by this chapter or the payment thereof, shall, in addition to other penalties provided by law, be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, be fined not more than $10,000, or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.”

The indictment alleged that “on or about the 15th day of March, 1951, in the Northern District of California, Carl C. Lee [appellant], late of Sacramento, California, who during the calendar year 1950 was married, did willfully and knowingly attempt to evade and defeat a large part of the income tax due and owing by him and his wife to the United States of America for the calendar year 1950, by filing and causing to be filed with the Collector of Internal Revenue for the First Internal Revenue Collection District of California, at San Francisco, a false and fraudulent joint income tax return…